Outpouring of support for father-to-be who died on night out after allergic reaction to barramundi

The pregnant widow of a man who died eating an Australian fish on a night out has shared the “scary” moment she lost her husband.

A father-to-be has tragically died after suffering a fatal allergic reaction 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 barramundi which triggered the allergic reaction.

Mr and Mrs Hall married last year and were expecting their first child in May, a daughter they had already named Isabelle.

“From the moment that we met just everything just started falling into place for us, just like it was meant to be,” Mrs Hall told news.com.au.

The couple were sharing a seafood basket at the restaurant when Mr 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,” Mrs Hall said.

Their daughter Isabelle is due in May. Picture: GoFundMe

“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 OK within minutes Mr 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’,” Mrs 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.”

Mr 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.

Mr Hall hadn’t even known he was allergic to barramundi. Picture: Supplied.

A small comfort for his widow has been the fact that Mr Hall was an organ donor and doctors were able to take five of his organs, including his heart, before he died.

“It just made me so proud of him that he was able to do that even after he passed,” Mrs 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 Mrs Hall and the couple’s unborn child.

Prior to his death Mr and Mrs Hall had bought a 2.5 acre block where they had made plans to build their dream country home.

Mrs Hall says she has been “blown away” by the support from the fundraiser, which has so received more than $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.

The couple had married in May last year. Picture: Supplied.

“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.”

Mrs 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.”