Boy, 16, dies from pollen allergy attack after GCSEs

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy died after suffering a massive allergic reaction to pollen while celebrating the end of his GCSEs with friends in a park.

Joe Dale, pictured, later went to a friend’s house to relax, but collapsed with a devastating asthma attack and lost consciousness on June 17, 2017.

He died six days later – the day of his school prom – when his life support was turned off at Barnsley Hospital.

It later emerged that Joe, a pupil at Penistone Grammar School, achieved a string of top GCSE results. Doctors believe he died from a severe asthmatic reaction to pollen, which can cause sufferers’ airways to swell.

Joe’s family, from Barnsley, told of the tragedy to warn others about the potentially fatal condition. His mother Helena, an administration worker, said: ‘It’s impossible to put into words what it’s like to lose a child like this, it’s absolutely heart-wrenching.’

Mrs Dale, 50, added: ‘I have had to bury the life I had with Joe and start a new one, a completely different one.’ She said her son was an ‘active’ boy who played football and went gokarting with his father Jon, 48.

He had suffered with asthma since he was five but had had only one asthma attack, when he was 12, before his death.

Joe’s organs were donated and saved three lives.

Mrs Dale said that is what he would have wanted, and added: ‘It does help to know his death wasn’t for nothing.’