Latest news with #toddlerhealth
The Sun
30-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Mum shares heartbreaking photo of baby boy fighting for life as a warning – after she found him coughing and drooling
A TODDLER was left "coughing up black chunks" then fighting for life after swallowing a button battery from a remote control. The tiny disc got lodged in 16-month-old Asa Allen's throat while he was playing outside with his two siblings. 11 Mum Kasey Allen, 32, who had travelled to visit her husband in Texas, United States, was cleaning the family campervan at the time. She found the camera remote on the floor in pieces and noticed a flushed Asa coughing and drooling 30 minutes later. Thinking he was simply a bit tired, the wedding photographer put the youngster down for a nap. But Kasey says when he woke up he appeared worse and started "coughing up black chunks". Concerned, the mum called a nurse friend who urged her to rush Asa to hospital. Asa had an X-ray at a local health centre, which revealed a button battery was lodged near his collarbone. He was referred to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, where the battery was fished out from his oesophagus around nine hours after he swallowed it before he was put on a ventilator for six days. Kasey is sharing what happened to Asa, now three, in October 2023 as a stark warning to other parents. The parent, from Monroe, Louisiana, said: "He found a camera remote, which was mounted on the steering wheel. "I was in and out [of the campervan] but I never saw him get the remote. I then saw it lying on the floor in four pieces. The 19 surprising choking hazards in your home that are as dangerous as button batteries "I don't know exactly when he swallowed it but it was around 30 minutes after I found the remote that his symptoms started." She described her son as "really flushed and fatigued", adding: "He had started coughing a lot and salivating. "I thought, 'What has happened to you?'" 'It was like a punch in the gut' Kasey put a "tired" Asa down for a nap, but got the shock of her life when he woke up. "His symptoms were worse," she said. "He started coughing up black chunks of the battery coating and I thought, 'Oh my God, his insides are coming out, something is wrong'. "I called my friend who was a nurse practitioner and she asked me if he had access to a button battery. "I said he had dropped a remote and maybe there was one in there, and she told me to take him to the emergency room right away. "Doctors did the X-ray and he had swallowed a battery, which was lodged between his collarbone. "From there, they transported us to a bigger hospital and they needed three doctors to get it out. "By this time my husband was researching button batteries and I thought my son was going to die. "I was shocked, I couldn't even move, I really felt numb. It was like a punch in the gut." 11 11 11 After struggling to remove the battery from Asa's oesophagus, they eventually managed to get it out. "He came out [of surgery] and that was very scary for me to see because he did look dead," Kasey said. "He wasn't moving and he had a thousand tubes going in him." Asa had to do "a lot of physiotherapy" and learn how to swallow and chew again due to the damage from the button battery, which caused his oesophagus to shrink to just 0.1in (3mm). In November, the tot had reconstructive surgery on his oesophagus and was hospitalised for five weeks due to a leak from the organ. A year and a half on from his ordeal, Asa is fully healed and able to eat again. But Kasey, who has banned all button batteries from her house, wants to ensure all mums and dads keep electronics with them away from their kids. She said: "Please watch out for button batteries. "I don't have them in my house anymore. We don't even have toys with them as it's not worth a life. "Make sure everything is screwed in if something has one. I don't want what happened to Asa to happen to another kid. "It was a really scary time but I'm glad we're finally on the other side of it. "We got to keep him with us so we're very grateful." What to do if your child swallows a button battery BUTTON batteries - also known as coin batteries - are small, flat, circular batteries used to power everything from watches to calculators, remote controls to car keys, and electronic toys to LED lights. They can cause severe problems if swallowed. Great Ormond Street Hospital says: "The problems caused by button batteries are not usually due to chemicals leaking from the battery but because the battery itself reacts with bodily fluids, such as mucus or saliva. "This creates a circuit to release a substance like caustic soda, which is a strong alkali that can burn through tissue. "An alkaline substance is at the opposite end of the pH scale to an acid but is just as dangerous. "Even 'dead' batteries have the potential to release the alkali so should be treated just as carefully as new batteries." If a child has swallowed a button battery, they might: Vomit fresh, bright red blood Cough, gag or drool a lot Appear to have an upset stomach or virus Vomit Point to their throat or tummy Say they have pain in their tummy, chest or throat Be tired or lethargic Be quieter or more clingy than usual, or otherwise 'not themselves' Lose their appetite Not want to or be unable to eat solid food If you think your child has ingested a button battery, take the following steps: Go straight to A&E Tell a doctor Take the battery packaging or product with you Don't let them eat or drink Don't make them sick It's important to get medical help as soon as possible. "The button battery may have caused significant damage to the lining of the child's oesophagus (foodpipe) – in some cases it may have burned through the oesophagus completely to form a hole," GOSH adds. "This may create a passage (fistula) between the oesophagus and the trachea (windpipe). It may also have damaged the vocal cords. "It may have burned through the blood vessels in the chest area, including the aorta (main blood vessel leading from the heart)." She added: "Asa had so much scarring. He couldn't eat real food, he would throw it up. "His oesophagus had shrunk down 0.1in (3mm); for his age it should be around 0.5in (12mm). "In November, he had reconstructive surgery. We were meant to be in hospital for five days but ended up staying for five weeks because there was a leak from his oesophagus. "It is now at 0.6in (15mm) and he is able to eat. "He's made amazing progress. He had never swallowed anything like that before - he wasn't even putting things in his mouth, which kids his age tend to do. "The first thing he put in his mouth was a button battery." 11 11 11 11 11
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Little girl 'no longer smiles' after receiving 30 vials of antivenom while recovering from rattlesnake bites
An Arizona toddler has not smiled since Friday, when she was rushed to a local hospital after being bitten twice by a diamondback rattlesnake. She has since been pumped with 30 vials of antivenom - and may need even more - as her family worries about the long term effects the 15 month old may face. 'We miss her smiles,' Jacquelyn Reed told 12 News. She explained that she and her young daughter, Cara, were simply walking around their property near Florence when Reed went to throw away a piece of trash. Reed says she was only gone for about 10 seconds before she heard Cara start to cry. When she then went to find out what was wrong, she noticed the young girl 'had four puncture wounds on the top of her foot, in the little window of her little jelly shoe, and behind her, to her left was a snake coiled up.' Terrified, Reed said she immediately scooped Cara up and rushed to a nearby emergency room - calling ahead of time to let the doctors know her daughter needed antivenom. But an online fundraiser set up to help the family with the little girl's medical expenses says the hospital was unable to provide the antidote for over an hour - and soon Cara's foot started to turn black. At the same time, Reed said, Cara ended up vomiting and passed out. From there, the hospital airlifted the little girl to Phoenix Children's Hospital for treatment - where Reed said Cara has 'had 30 vials of antivenom so far.' Her recovery has not been easy, as Cara soon started having trouble breathing and had to be intubated. That tube was finally removed on Tuesday, following a difficult few hours for the family. 'For the first few hours after taking the tube out, her breathing was very tight and we couldn't keep her oxygen up,' Cara's aunt wrote on the online fundraiser, noting that at times the little girl's oxygen saturation dropped to just 25 percent. Eventually, Cara's medical team at Phoenix Children's Hospital called the Ears, Nose and Throat specialists to the bedside - where they discovered that the toddler's vocal cords were swollen nearly shut. At that point, the doctors provided the little girl with more steroids, respiratory treatments, 'positioned her in a specific way to help with her floppy airway' and started her on oxygen mixed with helium. 'We were told that if she didn't show improvement within the hour, that we would be reintubating her with a tiny breathing tube and heading to the OR to have a vocal cord dilation performed,' her aunt, Delia, wrote. 'We prayed and sat by her side, listening for improvement in her breathing' and soon, Cara 'began to move more air,' Delia wrote in an update on the online fundraiser. 'She slowly showed improvement and got over the hump.' Then on Wednesday, Delia wrote that Cara was 'finally getting nourishment by way of a feeding tube. 'Cara is now aware enough to make eye contact and is getting upset when Mom goes out of her sight,' she shared. 'She is so strong and resilient, and we are so happy with the progress she is making.' Yet it remains unclear whether Cara will ever regain full function of her foot, as Delia noted on Tuesday that she was beginning to show signs of long term injuries, and 'we do know that her injury is unfortunately one of the more severe. 'We will be looking to see what kind of recovery she can make, but right now, nothing is off the table as far as her long term damage goes,' Delia shared, noting that the family is considering foot surgery. But both she and Jacquelyn say they are just glad Cara survived the ordeal. 'We are just grateful we still have our little girl with us,' Delia wrote on the GoFundMe, as she thanked everyone who has raised over $17,000 for the little girl's recovery. 'Cara is a true blessing from God and somehow, everyone knows it,' she said. 'We feel your love and your support and [know] without a DOUBT that Cara was preserved today because of the outpouring of faith and prayers to our Heavenly Father by all who love her.' Jacquelyn added that her baby is 'the angel of the family' and she still hopes 'that we can get full function back, that she can, you know, be back to her normal, happy, like cute, adorable self.'
