Alexander Hall hadn't even known he was allergic to barramundi. Photo / Supplied, news.com.au
Alexander Hall hadn't even known he was allergic to barramundi. Photo / Supplied, news.com.au
A father-to-be has tragically died after suffering a fatal reaction to an allergy he wasn't even aware he had.
Alexander Hall, from the Victorian town of Ballan, had been enjoying a night out on February 7 with his pregnant wife Cassandra, 33, at a Ballarat restaurant when he ate barramundiwhich triggered the allergic reaction.
The pair married last year and were expecting their first child in May, a daughter they have already named Isabelle.
The couple were sharing a seafood basket at the restaurant when Alexander Hall remarked that he hadn't had barramundi recently.
"It was when we'd finished the meal that he mentioned that he had really liked the fish and he hadn't had that type of fish in quite a few years," Cassandra Hall said.
"He mentioned (saying the) last time I'd had it I thought that I might have had a bit of a reaction to it … my lips were a little bit tingly."
While initially feeling okay, within minutes Alexander Hall was "wet with sweat" and "really struggling to breathe", with a nearby table of off-duty nurses rushing to help the 37-year-old.
"He was just saying, 'I can't breathe, I need someone to breathe into my mouth, I can't breathe'," Cassandra Hall said.
"The nurses were trying to get him into the recovery position and I was just trying to breathe into his mouth, trying to help him, doing anything.
"There was nothing I could do, I was so scared and I could see he was scared as well, he didn't want to leave us."
Alexander Hall was rushed to hospital and placed into an induced coma. While doctors initially hoped he would recover, his condition continued to deteriorate and he died five days later.
A coroner later ruled his cause of death was due to severe anaphylaxis and cerebral hypoxia, where oxygen is cut off from the brain, the Herald Sun reports.
A small comfort for his widow has been the fact that Alexander Hall was an organ donor and doctors were able to take five of his organs, including his heart, before he died.
The couple had married in May last year. Photo / supplied, news.com.au
"It just made me so proud of him that he was able to do that even after he passed," Cassandra Hall said, "his heart was just so big and so generous that he's gone and saved somebody else."
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the couple's friend Theany Walker to support Cassandra Hall and the couple's unborn child.
Prior to his death, the pair had bought a 2.5 acre block where they had made plans to build their dream country home.
Cassandra Hall says she has been "blown away" by the support from the fundraiser, which has so received more than A$21,000 in donations.
Everything in my life is about to change now because we're renting and paying a mortgage for this land that we've bought," she said.
"Now I've got two-and-a-half acres and I don't have a green thumb, that was Alex. Now I'm reduced down to one income and soon to be on maternity leave. I don't know what I'm going to do honestly, it's quite scary."
Cassandra Hall also wants more people to be aware of allergies and keep track of any strange reactions they have to certain foods.
She had only known he was allergic to Brazil nuts and dog, cat and horse hair.
"If his story is able to save even one person, because the shocking thing is we didn't know he was allergic to barramundi," she said.
"I think people need to be aware if they have something one time and have even the mildest reaction what can happen, it's quite common, the second time you eat it that's when you get a very, very severe reaction. It's important that people are aware of that."
