Every parent is scared of their child getting hurt or, even worse, killed. Unfortunately for a pair of parents in Oklahoma, their toddler died after the two-year-old was rushed to a hospital. She unexpectedly began to turn blue and threw up blood, but when doctors ordered an x-ray, they realized that the young girl was dying for a frighteningly simple reason.
Two-year-old Brianna Florer started to get a low-grade fever. At first, her parents, Brian and Stephanie Florer, didn’t think too much of it until their daughter started to turn blue and threw up blood. They immediately called an ambulance, and their daughter was taken to Grove Hospital. After ordering an x-ray, doctors quickly learned that the young girl had ingested a button battery that was smaller than a dime.
They immediately transported her to another hospital where she was rushed into surgery to attempt to remove the battery. “They operated on her for 2 hours, but they couldn’t stop the bleeding,” explained Brianna’s grandfather, Kent Vice, according to Daily Mail. “They believed the battery ate through to her carotid artery by way of her esophagus.” He continued, “’One minute she is perfect, and the next minute she is dead. We had no idea when she swallowed it.”
These batteries are commonly found in toys and gadgets, such as remote-control cars, TV remotes, and novelty musical greeting cards.
‘Pre-school age children are most at risk because these batteries are shiny and the same size as a Smartie. Children will think it’s a sweet, pop it in their mouth and swallow it,’ says Dr Kate Parkins, a pediatrician and consultant at Manchester University Hospitals Trust, who is calling for a Department of Health campaign to increase awareness.
An electric current from the battery combines with saliva to produce sodium hydroxide — or caustic soda.
This can burn through the oesophagus and surrounding blood vessels, causing potentially fatal damage within a couple of hours. ‘The child can bleed to death,’ explains Dr Parkins.
Doctors believe that Brianna had ingested the object within days of her death, but they won’t know the official cause of death until the autopsy results come back.
Vice wants his granddaughter’s death to act as an eye-opener for parents and bring about change. “’I want to keep these things out of houses,” he admitted. “They are dangerous.”
According to Daily Mail, “There were 11,940 cases of children swallowing batteries from 2005 to 2014.”
Gemma Espejo-Degraph’s, 37 (pictured), 20 month old daughter, Amelie (pictured) was hospitalised in May 2014 after swallowing a lithium battery, the little girl was left with an 11cm scar in her oesophagus.
Horrific internal burns meant she was still at risk of a fatal bleed and would have to endure a series of gruelling operations to try to rectify the damage. Although Gemma’s daughter, Amelie, is now able to eat solid foods but the damage caused by the batteries may affect her for the rest of her life.
As a parent, it’s easy to imagine a toddler getting into something they aren’t supposed to and ingesting it. It only takes one second for a child to sneak something dangerous, regardless of how “baby-proofed” their home is made. Let this be an opportunity for anyone who has children in their lives to learn how important it is to keep an eye on children and to make sure anything dangerous is out of their reach. In a blink of an eye, our entire world could change, all because of something a child found on the floor.
‘When I lost my son I lost a part of myself,’ says Fatima. ‘I don’t want his death to be in vain. I want all parents to be aware of the dangers batteries can cause.’
