How an innocent meal led to a months-long health battle for a 9-year-old
A mother has issued a dire warning about a common household item after her daughter’s innocent bacon and egg roll turned into a months-long health battle.
Kristen Saunders has warned parents about wire barbecue grill brushes, after her nine-year-old daughter choked on a piece of the metal.
At a venue in Newcastle in July, Kristen’s daughter ate a bacon and egg roll and started to feel like she was choking.
Unbeknown to her parents, the nine-year-old had swallowed a piece of wire that had come off a barbecue grill brush and ended up in her roll.
“I think like most parents, we’re like, ‘You’ll be fine, have some water, it’ll settle down’,” Saunders told ABC Newcastle Breakfast.
Saunders took her daughter to the GP, who noticed she had a high temperature but nothing serious.
However, over the next few days a sore throat worsened to the point she was unable to eat solid food, before she also started showing neurological symptoms.
“There was this one particular day I was at home with her and all of a sudden she was a bit confused answering questions,” Saunders said.
“I was like, ‘Hang on, there’s something really problematic here’ and called the GP.”
Saunders’ daughter was stumbling, disoriented and unable to recognise her own family, and was admitted to hospital.
“They identified that there were some abscesses in the brain,” Saunders said.
“They ended up at the last-minute doing a CT and identified there was this tiny bit of wire, sort of near her neck.”
Saunders’ daughter was then airlifted to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, where it was discovered that the young girl had a major infection in one of her arteries after the wire pierced her oesophagus then pushed into the carotid artery.
The girl had to undergo surgery, as Saunders said the experience was “awful” but her daughter was given “amazing care”.
“She is well on her way to recovery but it could have been so much worse,” Saunders said.
“Please protect your family and friends and throw out your wire barbecue grill brushes.”
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