Las Vegas, Nevada - One little pretzel changed Chantel Giacalone's life forever.

In 2013 model and actor Chantel Giacalone (35) was living the dream, working in Las Vegas. She was busy doing what she loved, but things took a terrible turn in the most unexpected way.

As reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal, Giacalone was modeling at a fashion show at the Mandalay Bay South Convention Center when a friend brought her a yogurt with a small pretzel on top.

From the first bite, she could tell something was wrong. The then-27-year-old smelled the pretzel and realized that it was infused with peanut butter, at which point she jumped up and screamed, "I'm allergic!"

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She started going into anaphylactic shock very quickly. Terrified, Chantel called her father, Jack, saying she almost couldn't breathe.

Jack Giacalone gave his daughter and her friend instructions on what to do next, which included administering an EpiPen and Benadryl. Unfortunately her throat had closed too tight for her to swallow the Benadryl, and she began turning black and blue in the medical tent.

As her father later testified in court, "I heard in her voice that she was panicking, it was the last time I heard her voice."

On the way to hospital, the model's throat finally swelled shut. "Don't let me die, I don't want to die," she pleaded.

The Southern Nevada Health District requires first responders to carry IV adrenaline. However, the MedicWest Ambulance workers only had intramuscular epinephrine, which won't work when a patient is going into full anaphylaxis.

The lack of a medication that costs less than $3.00 meant that Chantel's airways were obstructed for far too long, cutting off the oxygen supply to her brain for several minutes.

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Though doctors were able to open her airways at the hospital, the brain damage was so severe that she was rendered a quadriplegic. She lives in her parents' dining room now, is fed artificially and can only communicate with others by computer through eye movement. According to her father, Chantel's life expectancy is only 55 years.

After years of fighting MedicWest Ambulance for negligent treatment of an allergic reaction, Chantel Giacalone was awarded $29.5 million in damages on April 9. The organization continues to deny any wrongdoing.

The money is intended to help the family improve the 35-year-old's quality of care, particularly as her elderly parents are her primary caregivers 24/7.