Teenager Dies After Allegedly Eating Too Much Chewing Gum

An inquest heard that chewing gum "may have played a role" in the demise of a Carmarthenshire teenager.

Samantha Jenkins, 19, of Llanelli, collapsed and fell into a coma in 2011 and died in hospital a few days later.

As the 10th-anniversary approaches, mum Maria Morgan told Wales Online : "I remember it like it was yesterday."

She stated her daughter complained of being sick, but she assumed it was due to dehydration from being out in the sun.

"Oh God, I don't know what's wrong with me; I can't even pick up my bottle, it keeps falling on the floor," Mrs. Morgan recalled her daughter saying.

Her mother advised her to lie down on the bed and drink a bottle of water because she had probably had too much sun.

Samantha informed Maria that she did not want to go upstairs and preferred to sleep on the ground floor. Maria instructed her to go upstairs and retrieve a quilt to bring down. After then, they heard a thud.

"Me and my other daughter got up and went to the door and I said, 'What the hell was that?' And she shouted downstairs, 'Is this what it's like to die?' and then we heard a thud again."

Maria dashed upstairs to see her daughter having a fit on the floor. Samantha was transported to Llanelli's Prince Philip Hospital after an ambulance was dispatched.

Samantha began convulsing after medical responders took her up to the ward, Maria said. "They called me in and said because she was fitting so much, they couldn't get the medication into her that they needed and so they put her into an induced coma."

Samantha's condition, unfortunately, did not improve. Maria received the devastating news three days after her daughter was brought to the hospital by a doctor at Morriston Hospital. Her daughter had been transferred to the neurological ward.

Maria sat next to Samantha in the intensive care unit on that Sunday when the doctor arrived. He introduced himself and explained that he had come to talk to Maria.

Dr. Paul Griffiths, a pathologist, told a Swansea inquest that she had low calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium levels. He said the situation could have been caused by malabsorption induced by chewing gum in her stomach.

Maria had previously requested an investigation into her daughter's death, claiming that her daughter's chewing gum habit played a role.

The cause of death, according to Colin Phillips, acting senior coroner for Swansea, was a lack of oxygen to her brain caused by a convulsion triggered by a mineral imbalance in her body.

"Excessive consumption of chewing gum may have played a role in inducing this lack of minerals or mineral depletion," he said.

After hearing that it couldn't be proven, he didn't make a clear conclusion that it was the cause of her death.

Maria believes her daughter died due to swallowing too many sweeteners, such as aspartame and sorbitol, which are found in some gum.

She told the inquiry that after her daughter's death, she discovered dozens of empty packs of gum among her daughter's belongings.

Maria initially felt "ridiculous," implying that it had something to do with her death.

Doctors were "baffled" by Miss Jenkins's unexpected collapse, so she thought it was "worth reporting."

She described her daughter as an energetic, cheerful, and fun-loving 19-year-old with a bright future ahead of her.

"She had no idea whatsoever that she was slowly killing herself. The last four years have been a living hell on earth, waiting for answers," Mrs. Morgan said in a BBC report.

Mrs. Morgan added that all she wants are answers for her "beautiful young girl" so that her family can finally find peace. Perhaps public outcry will lead to changes in public understanding of these additives, she said.

Miss Jenkins' family received an apology from the coroner for the "unacceptable" delay in the inquiry process.