by Ken Task.
First line ... 'MySQLserver has gone away' indicates the need to increase max_allowed_packet:
https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en//packet-too-large.html
From above:
'The largest possible packet that can be transmitted to or from a MySQL 5.5 server or client is 1GB'
Think starting at 16M might be in order:
max_allowed_packet=16M
MySQL service needs restart for the change to take affect.
'spirit of sharing', Ken