Jaffa Cake tragedy
Party game mum, 24, choked to death in bid to fit as many in her mouth as possible
A YOUNG mother choked to death playing a party game where she tried to fit as many Jaffa Cakes into her mouth as possible.
Bethan Gaskin, 24, rushed to the toilet to spit out the snacks but her airway became blocked and she collapsed. She failed to return – and was found unconscious on the bathroom floor.
After the alarm was raised, doctors discovered that Miss Gaskin, who has a threeyear-old daughter, sustained devastating brain damage and had suffered a heart attack. She was put on life support at Peterborough City Hospital for five days before it was switched off on February 27.
Her mother Michele Gaskin, 52, said: ‘I remember raising my eyebrows when Bethan started the game, thinking “How old are you?” and telling her to spit them out. She was like a little hamster with her cheeks bulging.
‘She danced off to the toilet to get rid of them and it was only a while later we realised she had been gone a long time.’
Mrs Gaskin dialled 999 and a friend trained in first aid performed CPR as they waited for an ambulance to arrive at Miss Gaskin’s home in Bourne, Lincolnshire. Her mother added: ‘In my heart I knew we had lost her before they put her into the ambulance. Too much time was passing.’
She has now spoken out to warn people about the dangers of such food challenges. She said: ‘ So many people have said they play a similar game with marshmallows. Even my 90-year-old aunt said she does it with Maltesers. This just shows how fragile we are.’
It is not known how many cakes obscured her airway.
Miss Gaskin, who worked as a carer and had been hoping to pursue a career in the beauty industry, was surrounded by family when she died. She donated her heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas and one lung to save others. Her mother said: ‘She looked perfect and so beautiful. It was just like she was sleeping.’ The family said Miss Gaskin’s daughter Lili is too young to fully appreciate what has happened.
Michele said: ‘I just told her that mummy was very sick and the doctors couldn’t make her better so she has died and we can’t see her again. We talk about Bethan with Lili and she has asked a few times when we are going to mummy’s.’ Miss Gaskin’s father Joe, 57, a painter and decorator, said: ‘We just tell her that mummy is an angel in Heaven now.’
He added: ‘ Bethan enjoyed spending time with her friends and also took part in medieval reenactments. She was also looking forward to raising Lili and giving her all the opportunities she enjoyed herself as a child.’