Losing a child must be the worst thing a parent can experience.
It doesn’t matter how old the child is – outliving your son or daughter is certainly the worst nightmare for any parent.
I can’t imagine how parents Stephanie and Brian from Tulsa, Oklahoma must have felt when they were in the ambulance with their daughter Brianna, rushing to the hospital in the middle of the Christmas festivities.
The two-year-old girl’s face suddenly turned blue, and she began to vomit blood.
Brianna’s parents became aware that something was seriously wrong with their 2-year-old daughter when she had a slight fever the morning before Christmas in 2015.
Although fever is a common symptom, and the parents did not immediately fear the worst, they were quickly shocked and understood the seriousness of the situation when Brianna suddenly turned blue in her face and started vomiting blood.
The young girl was immediately taken to the hospital in an ambulance where she was immediately operated on.
But it was too late.
“They operated on her for 2 hours, but they couldn’t stop the bleeding,” grandfather Kent Vice told the Daily Mail.
It turned out that Brianna had accidentally swallowed a very small battery, even smaller than a dime.
This type of mini-battery is in everyday objects you have at home: especially in remote controls, watches, and car keys. There are cases where children swallowed these batteries without fatal consequences because the batteries often pass through the body and exit through bowel movements.
“It can be fatal for young children if the battery gets stuck in the esophagus,” doctor Toby Litovitz told The Oklahoman.
But if the battery gets stuck for any reason, the battery can release acid and that is deadly.
In Brianna’s case, the battery acid caused irreparable damage to her esophagus.
Brianna’s parents had no idea how or when their daughter had swallowed the battery, but doctors suspected that the incident occurred 6 days before her death.
The family is now working hard to warn others about the dangers of small batteries. They take action on Facebook, among other things.
“I think these batteries should be banned from every home. They are life-threatening,” says Brianna’s grandfather.
According to the Daily Mail, there were about 12,000 cases of children swallowing batteries between 2005 and 2014.
15 of them lost their lives due to the toxic acid in the batteries.
That is why it is extremely important to be extremely careful with these batteries and make sure that young children do not access where these batteries are stored.
It only takes 1 second for a child to swallow something dangerous, but it can cause extreme damage.
If you suspect your child has swallowed a battery, first check how the child is feeling. Do not let the child vomit, but if the child has difficulty breathing or is vomiting, go to the hospital immediately.
If the child shows no symptoms, you can wait and see if the battery comes out in the toilet. If the battery does not come out within 2 days, or if they exhibit certain symptoms, go to the doctor with your child.
Although it is difficult to imagine the pain the parents of Brianna must be going through, they are trying to raise awareness on the subject. Batteries are silent killers. I couldn’t help but share this story with everyone I know, I never want to hear such stories again!
Today, hopefully, we can raise awareness and ensure that Brianna did not die in vain.
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