The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘I’m gonna die’: Alicia stung dozens of times during wasp attack
An Arbroath mum has told of the moment her 11-year-old daughter feared she was going to die after being stung dozens of times by wasps.
Alicia Wolecki was playing tig with friends in an area known as the Dammy when she ran into a nest.
Mum Charlene believes she was stung about 100 times during the attack last week, while one of her friends was also targeted.
Two teenage boys went to the youngster’s help by pulling her to safety.
Charlene said: “She’d been hiding in a bush during a game with her friends.
“Then she ran out and hit her head off the wasps’ nest and it dropped to the ground.
“Then they just swarmed her and started stinging. It sounded terrifying – she was just running and screaming.
“She found two teenage boys that she asked for help. They got stuck in trying to help her right away, while getting stung themselves.
“They got her jumper off because the wasps were all stuck to it. Her shoes were yellow with wasps.”
The boys rushed Alicia to a nearby shop for wasp spray and managed to get most of the insects off her.
The youngster then ran home in agony.
Charlene said: “She was hysterical and screaming by the time she got back.
“She was screaming, ‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die’, and saying she couldn’t breathe and was taking panic attacks.
“I was panicking because she’s asthmatic and lots of asthmatics are allergic to wasp stings.
“I was terrified she was going into anaphylactic shock.
“If she did, she wouldn’t have survived.”
Charlene called an ambulance to their home, but Alicia did not want to leave a cold shower due to the pain.
She was checked over there instead of going to hospital.
Charlene said: “The doctor said to thank her lucky stars that it wasn’t much worse.
“But they’ve stung absolutely everywhere – her scalp, feet, legs, arms.
“I counted 30 minimum on each leg today, because the swelling has finally gone down enough to see. She’s a lot better now.”
Charlene managed to track down the boys who had helped following an appeal on social media.
She added: “I just said to them ‘thank you so much’ because they really helped her.
“Young boys get such bad press these days, but they both sprang into action to help her right away.”