Mom chokes to death while doing party trick for family

A mother of one choked to death while trying to see how many Jaffa Cakes she could put in her mouth for a party trick.

Bethan Gaskin, 24, blacked out and stopped breathing when the snacks — three-layer cakes a little over 2 inches in diameter — got lodged in her throat as she desperately tried to spit them out.

She collapsed at home in Lincolnshire — in eastern England, about 115 miles north of London — on Feb. 22 and was rushed to the hospital.

The 24-year-old died five days later at Peterborough City Hospital.

Her devastated mom, Michele, 52, warned people of the risks of food challenges.

She 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 realized she had been gone a long time.”

A friend went to check on Gaskin and found her slumped on the bathroom floor.

Firefighters arrived a few minutes later to give her first aid before the ambulance crew arrived.

Michele said: “In my heart, I knew we had lost her before they put her into the ambulance. Too much time was passing.”

Gaskin, who worked as a caregiver and was hoping to break into the beauty industry, was in the hospital for five days before doctors realized the extent of her brain damage.

The family gathered at her bedside to say their goodbyes on Feb. 27.

“She looked perfect and so beautiful. It was just like she was sleeping,” Gaskin’s mother 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.”

Gaskin’s devastated parents and brother Joseph, 20, then had to break the heartbreaking news to her 3-year-old daughter, Lili.

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.”

Devastated dad Joe, 57, added: “We just tell her that Mummy is an angel in heaven now.”

Source: NY post