British ballet dancer with peanut allergy killed in US by mislabelled biscuit

A “radiant” British ballet dancer with a extreme peanut allergy died after consuming a mislabelled biscuit within the US.

Órla Baxendale, 25, suffered a extreme allergic response after consuming a Vanilla Florentine Cookie which didn’t record nuts amongst its elements.

Ms Baxendale, who moved from East Lancashire to New York to pursue her dancing profession, carried an EpiPen but it surely was ineffective “as a result of severity of her allergy”, her household’s lawyer mentioned.

She died of anaphylactic shock on Jan 11 2024.

Ms Baxendale was “very cautious and hyper-vigilant about the whole lot she ate, and all the time completely checked the elements on all packaging”, the lawyer mentioned.

Paying tribute, Ms Baxendale’s sister Ciara Baxendale, an actress, mentioned: “I’ll by no means ever, so long as I’m on this earth, cease speaking about how radiant, how lovely, how form, how cool, how hilarious, how witty, how vibrant she was.

“She had a golden contact. The whole lot about her was magical, she was simply so other-worldly. She seems identical to an angel and I simply can not consider that she has gone.”

‘Reward for lighting up any room’

Elmhurst Ballet College in Birmingham, the place Ms Baxendale educated, described her as a “radiant drive”.

The college mentioned: “Her authenticity and skill to remain true to herself resonated with all who had the privilege of realizing her, and she or he had a exceptional present for lighting up any room she entered.”

Niamh Robinson, an in depth good friend of Ms Baxendale’s who additionally educated at Elmhurst, mentioned: “Órla was certainly one of my absolute best buddies and I actually lack the phrases to specific how particular she was.

“She was totally unfazed by others’ opinions and it was this authenticity that made her simply pure magic to be round.”

Ms Robinson, an apprentice at The Telegraph, added: “She was an unbelievably gifted dancer, and the influence she had on this world in 25 years was higher than many obtain in a lifetime.

“My ideas are along with her household on a regular basis, and whereas the ache of lacking her is so nice the enjoyment of getting had her in our lives for the time that we did is even higher.”

Ms Baxendale, who was forged on this planet premiere of Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet, purchased the biscuits from a department of Stew Leonard’s in Connecticut.

The cookies are understood to have been made by wholesaler Cookies United and labelled with Stew Leonard’s model title.

The agency’s CEO, Stew Leonard Jr, mentioned in a video that the provider had modified soy nuts to peanuts within the recipe with out notifying their chief security officer.

Cookies United mentioned it had notified Stew Leonard’s in July 2023 that the product contained peanuts and that each one merchandise shipped to the retailer had been labelled accordingly.

Stew Leonard’s has recalled all of the mislabelled biscuits in partnership with the US Meals and Drug Administration.