Boy, 12, dies after allergic reaction following Christmas dinner with family; Cason Hallwood, from Winsford, Cheshire, died on Christmas Day in 2020 after he was accidentally given food that contained nuts.

Byline: By, Alex McIntyre & Sonia Sharma

A boy aged 12 died after eating Christmas dinner with his family, an inquest has heard.

Cason Hallwood had an allergic reaction to the meal, which contained nuts, it was said.

The boy died in hospital after falling ill when playing with his friends on December 25, 2020.

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Cason suffered from asthma and had a nut allergy, and began to have trouble breathing at the park.

This happened not long after having dinner at his grandparents' house with his mum Louise, and three brothers Cowen, Corley and Caiden, CheshireLive reports.

An inquest into Cason's death held at Parr Hall in Warrington on Monday heard that his grandfather Albert, who cooked the meal, had 'completely forgotten' about his allergy and said the glaze used on the gammon contained nuts.

Despite Louise running to the park to administer an EpiPen, as well as the efforts of paramedics and doctors, the youngster died after going into respiratory and then cardiac arrest.

Giving evidence at the inquest to senior coroner for Cheshire, Alan Moore, Louise gave her heartbreaking account of what happened that day.

The family had sat down to eat dinner at around 2.25pm and Louise said Cason had 'licked his plate clean'.

"He was a bit of a livewire Cason, he didn't want to sit and watch telly. He asked if he could go to the park with his mates. I said 'ring me if you need me' and with that he was gone," Louise said.

"About 20 minutes later my phone goes and Cason asked if I could send one of the boys with the inhalers. I didn't panic at this point and one of the twins said they'd go on Cason's bike.

He was back in about 10 minutes and he said he seemed fine. My phone went again and this time I could tell that the inhalers hadn't worked.

Louise ran to the park with the EpiPen they kept at Cason's grandparents house, which she said was out of date.

"I could tell straight away that he'd had something because his eyes were all puffy. The EpiPen I had on me was out of date. The one at my house was in date but the one at my mum and dad's wasn't," she said.

"I was on the phone to the ambulance and asked permission to give it to him because it was out of date. I gave him the shot and it made no difference."

She said she was 'panicking' when the ambulance turned up at the park and said there were a few minutes of confusion when the vehicle went to one entrance and then to another before...

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