A Sydney mother has taken to social media to make a desperate plea to parents, highlighting the hidden dangers of the latest fad amongst youngsters.
Fidget spinners, originally spruiked as a useful concentration tool for those with ADHD and autism, have become somewhat of a craze amongst children but, as the North Shore mother points out in a cautionary Facebook post, they can have severe consequences.
“Parents of fidget spinners beware… our son swallowed the disc of a fidget spinner last night and ended up at Royal North Shore Hospital emergency,” mum Jade Girvan wrote before explaining her son’s terrifying ordeal.
“The side of the spinner was cracked and when he spun it, the disc flew in his mouth. Before he realised, he swallowed it!”
Ms Girvan, who had purchased the apparatus for her six-year-old son Angus not 24 hours earlier, told News.com.au that she knew something had gone wrong when she heard her son’s heavy breathing.
“We ran in and said ‘are you OK’ and he just held up the fidget spinner and said he swallowed it — and sure enough, there was a hole where one of the discs was.
“I was so worried because I knew it was metallic inside but coated with a plastic casing and you just don’t know what’s in these things — a foreign object inside your body is never a good thing.”
Some schools have banned the use of fidget spinners after they were found to be distracting for both students and teachers.
An x-ray showed the disc lodged in his stomach – it was about the size of a 20 cent piece and half a centimetre thick.
The family’s hopes are that Angus will pass the disc on his own within two days. If not, they’ll need to look into a more invasive alternative.
“They are dangerous, and they could do real damage to kids,” the concerned mother tells the publication.
“Angus was as shocked as we were when it happened and the more people that know about these dangers, the less they will buy them,” she continues, adding that she disposed of the spinner immediately.
“We are just a lucky it didn’t go down his windpipe, we could have been in a very different position.”
