When Amanda Der Veer was 17 weeks pregnant, she took her son Aspen, 3, to McDonald’s in Newcastle as a treat after a shopping trip.
After eating, Amanda, 32, took Aspen to the family room bathroom. While Amanda was washing her hands and Aspen was playing with toy cars, she heard him cry out.
“I turned around to see him looking at his hand and I realised he was holding a needle in the other hand,” she told Kidspot.
“My heart stopped and I lunged and took the needle from him. Then I realised it was sticking out of my hand,” she says. “I pulled it out of my hand and threw it.”
The incident happened five months ago on November 7 at the Macca’s store on King Street in Newcastle, NSW.
The store manager saw them both emerge in tears, and took them to the ladies bathroom to wash their hands.
“Then I went over to my friends and told them what happened and started vomiting all over the floor. I just felt so filthy, dirty and sick,” she says.
Amanda’s heart was racing. “First I thought what if whatever was in the needle had gone into Aspen and then I thought about me and the baby,” she says.
“I had already had two miscarriages and all of my pregnancies have been high risk.”
Amanda and Aspen went to hospital to be tested, but they have to return after three months and then again at six months to learn if they have contracted any diseases.
Before the incident, Amanda was taking tablets for gestational diabetes. Ever since, she’s had to take insulin injections, because the tablets no longer work. Using needles now is something she struggles with.
“I’ve tried twice to inject myself. The first time, I just sat at home staring at it – I was a crying mess. The second time, I vomited everywhere. Now my husband has to inject it for me.”
Amanda said she had to call the McDonald’s store six times before she was able to get through to the manager, and after no follow-ups were made by their head office, she gave up.
A McDonald’s spokesperson told Kidspot that any incident of this nature is not acceptable and the company works continuously to ensure safety of staff and patrons.
“Our restaurant was in contact with the customer on a number of occasions immediately following the incident in November; but we certainly apologise if the customer feels she has not been appropriately supported, we have again reached out in the past week to offer any further assistance we can,” they continued.
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