The last thing a parent would expect to see in their rearview mirror is their 10-year-old daughter choking in the backseat.
In what now-relieved Kelly Rose Joniec calls “a pretty eventful Saturday”, the Texan mum can’t believe her daughter, Britton, had somehow lodged her fidget spinner toy in her throat just last weekend, as reported by The Sun.
“On the way home from a fun swim meet, I heard Britton make an odd retching noise in the back seat as I was driving,” she wrote on Facebook.
“Looking back in the mirror, I saw her face turning red and drool pouring from her mouth – she could utter noises but looked panicked so I immediately pulled over.”
Ms Joniec goes on to say that Britton was pointing at her throat, trying to say she had swallowed something.
Apparently, that something was a fidget spinner – a stress-relieving toy designed to help kids who struggle to focus in a bid to combat nervousness or stress.
Two of the toy’s bushings are missing from the toy: Ms Joneic says one is in her car somewhere and the other was stuck in Britton’s throat.
“She said she’d put part of her fidget spinner in her mouth to clean it and somehow swallowed it,” Ms Joniec remembers.
She was soon rushed to hospital where X-rays discovered that the “spinner bushing” – a piece of the fidget spinner – was lodged in her oesophagus.
“After multiple, very stressful attempts to place an IV, Britton was taken to surgery to endoscopically locate and remove the object,” Ms Joniec continues.
“Fortunately we had a positive outcome, but it was pretty scary there for a while…not only because of the initial ingestion, but then the concern about the composition and structure of the object, and finally, the risk with general anesthesia.”
So for all those parents at home who’ve bought their child a fidget spinner, Ms Joniec says to be wary that the bushings pop out easily and they can become a potential choking hazard.
Dually noted.
Ms Joneic and Britton all smiles while in hospital.
