August 26, 2018
A girl and a woman who suffered life-threatening allergies after being stung by insects have been reunited with the man who saved them.
Danielle Johanson, 12, has been stung four times by wasps, and rescued by the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters three times.
Samantha Wenzlick was home alone with her two infant daughters when she was stung by a bee, and collapsed in front of her girls after ringing for help.
Both Danielle and Wenzlick were reunited with intensive care paramedic Marcel Driessen for the first time at Danielle's Snells Beach, north Auckland home.
A helicopter was also present when singer Ladi6 "nearly died" after being stung by a bee at Matheson Bay on Waitangi Day.
Danielle, who is in Year 8 at Mahurangi College, was stung for the first time on February 24 when she was pruning some bushes.
"I stuck my hand in a wasp's nest and felt a sting. I didn't know I was allergic and slowly felt my throat start to tighten," she said.
"An ambulance came and then a helicopter flew me to hospital."
Danielle was stung for the second time on March 2, when she put her mum's jumper on.
"I guess there was a wasp in her sleeve. I felt a sting in my arm and then saw something fly away.
"I started coughing and couldn't breathe properly, and then I passed out. I could hear my mum on the phone calling 111. And again the helicopter took me away."
Three days later, Danielle was stung again while trying to get her cat out of a hedge.
Driessen turned up in a helicopter, and the crew was amazed to see Danielle for a third time.
Driessen said Danielle experienced a massive, life-threatening reaction and was in a critical condition.
"The local firemen were the first responders, and she was stabilised after a few rounds of adrenalin," he said.
"The helicopter took her to Starship Hospital, and the constant movement in hospital set her off again as after you're stung you retain toxins in your system."
Danielle's mum, Jude Johanson, said injecting needles into her daughter was terrifying and she felt sick each time she did it.
"Now we always have adrenalin and an EpiPen close by."
Danielle was stung a fourth time at school, possibly by a wasp inside a fruit bin. That time, a helicopter wasn't needed as Danielle injected herself with an EpiPen.
She said the second sting was the worst as she passed out, but could hear her mum crying on the phone.
For Johanson, the first sting was the worst because she didn't know Danielle was severely allergic, and it was a real shock, she said.
"The first time the helicopter arrives you think 'jeepers this must be bad'. The second and third time, it's relief and [you think] 'yay they're coming'."
Wenzlick collapsed on May 1 after being stung on the toe by a bee at her rural Waiwera property.
She said she had been stung before, but had never had such a severe reaction.
"I knew something was wrong so I opened the gates, tied the dogs up and called my mum and said to her 'it's probably nothing but I've been stung'.
"I told my girls 'don't go anywhere', then felt really light-headed and collapsed in front of them. My mum called an ambulance after she tried calling me back and there was no answer.
"Luckily my mother-in-law lives nearby and she came over and gave me two EpiPens. I remember waking up and hearing a helicopter around me, and thinking 'this must be bad'."
Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust spokesman Lincoln Davies said in 2018, crews went on 13 missions for severe allergic reactions, with nine being bee or wasp stings.
"On the same day we were tasked to Danielle's first incident, we also had to assist another young girl at Pakiri who suffered an allergic reaction to nuts," he said.
In 2017, crews were tasked to 10 missions involving patients suffering severe allergic reactions, with only two bee or wasp stings.
Other allergies responded to in recent years include medications, sea lice bites, and seafood.
Rodney, where Danielle and Wenzlick live, accounts for 10 of 22 missions attended by the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter in the past two years.
Waiheke Island accounted for nine of the missions.
