Just minutes after feeling a tickle on the back of her neck a Hastings woman set for a day at the beach was worrying about who would tell her children she had died.
Ginny Taft was supporting friends in a multisport event at Waipatiki Beach, north of Napier, on Saturday morning when she felt what turned out to be a wasp and tried to slap it away from the back of her neck.
The 39-year-old is allergic to bees but because most people with bee allergies aren't allergic to wasps she was not expecting what happened next.
"My mouth started feeling numb and then everything went numb within about 40 or 50 seconds. I knew then that I was in trouble," Ms Taft said this morning.
"I walked up to the tent as quickly I could and I started to get very light-headed and I was feeling quite sick. I remember them laying me down and I couldn't breathe.
"I couldn't talk to tell them I couldn't breathe, I was just blowing bubbles. I knew I was just minutes away from dying. I thought 'someone will have to tell my kids'."
She was grateful her 13-year-old and 15-year-old weren't there to see the events which she expected would now be hard to mentally recover from.
A doctor from Masterton was at the beach and administered adrenalin and called the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter.
"If he hadn't been there the helicopter wouldn't have been there in time and I would have been gone," Ms Taft said.
"The helicopter crew were amazing. My friend told me it was like watching a really well rehearsed dance. They had everything going the way it needed to."
That included having a defibrillator ready if needed.
A quick trip to Hawke's Bay Hospital saw Ms Taft monitored for six hours before being discharged to recover at home.
She now has to consider buying the $170 self-injecting epipens recommended to those with allergies. "I'm not going to be afraid of wasps my whole life," Ms Taft said.
"I'm just going to spend my whole swatting them away and maybe investing in some insect repellent," she said.
About 3 per cent of the population were allergic to wasps, according to Landcare Research statistic, and about two people died from wasp or bee stings every three years.
Ross Howell from pest control business Pests Away said he had done "heaps" of wasp removals this year but was unsure if it was because there were more of them or people had become reluctant to get rid of them themselves.
He was getting three or four callouts a week.
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