Every parent knows how difficult it is to keep an eye on your kids at all times. One Indiana mom stepped away for a short phone call and came back to a teary-eyed son, Peyton MacNair – who claimed something was stuck in his throat. She then looked into his mouth to make a shocking discovery.
What We Know:
- “I looked in the back of his throat and saw two magnets stuck together, one on each side of his uvula,” mom Jessica MacNair told TODAY. She then noticed the rest of the magnets were missing as well, prompting an immediate trip to the emergency room.
- Once they reached the hospital, the MacNairs discovered that Peyton had swallowed 25 hazardous neodymium magnets, on top of the two that were stuck in his throat. When ingested, these magnets have the ability to tear through tissue and cause gaps in the intestines, severe abdominal pain, or even death.
- Doctor Michael Foreman, a gastroenterologist at Riley Children’s Health in Indianapolis, used a long thin tube with a scope at the end to successfully pull the magnets out of Peyton’s stomach and upper small intestine. After the magnets were removed, Peyton made a speedy recovery and suffered no permanent damage.
- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned these magnets for a few years, in light of child safety. But in 2016, manufacturers were allowed to use them again. Since then, Doctor Foreman says that cases of children ingesting magnets have tripled to nearly 3,000 cases a year.
- Now, Jessica MacNair warns other parents of the dangers of neodymium magnets. She urges parents to look for the signs: an enlarged, tight, swollen belly and abdominal pain could all be a sign that something has perforated internally and may require surgery.
These tiny magnets can cause some serious harm!
