RELAXING in his living room with a game of football on the television, a Nancledra man sat down to enjoy a bag of tortilla chips.
Little did he know that eating just a few of the tasty snacks would leave him struggling to breathe and minutes from falling into a coma.
Ken Maidment suffered severe anaphylactic shock after eating the sour cream and onion tortilla chips, bought from Tesco.
"My mouth started burning, then my throat, and then an hour or so later my breathing was very short and my voice had practically gone and I knew that I was shutting down," said Mr Maidment, 63.
"I knew I was on the brink."
His wife Glynis said his face had become swollen and contorted.
"He was blowing up like a balloon," she said.
"Looking back on it now, it really was a life-or-death situation."
Mrs Maidment frantically phoned NHS Direct but was told there was a four-hour wait for a doctor, so she hung up and immediately dialled 999.
Within a matter of minutes two paramedics were on the scene treating Mr Maidment.
"Before they jabbed him with adrenalin I think I heard them say it was 'two minutes to comatose'," she said.
"I could have been talking to The Cornishman about an obituary if it weren't for the brilliant paramedics."
The couple praised the lifesaving pair who worked on Mr Maidment in an ambulance for 20 minutes before taking him to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
He spent the night being monitored by doctors before being given a clean bill of health.
"I'm feeling OK now," said Mr Maidment, who has been given a special pen which enables him to inject himself with a shot of adrenalin if he sufferers an allergic reaction again.
Despite his medical near-miss, Mr Maidment has chosen not to find out what ingredient in the crisps caused the severe reaction, instead deciding to stick to tried and tested foods.
"I don't normally tend to eat that kind of thing," he said.
"I'm not worried about it; I just won't eat that kind of thing any more. It just goes to show that something like this can really catch you out.
"These tortilla chips won't be on the shopping list again. I'll just stick to things I normally eat."
