2-year-old hospitalized after swallowing 16 magnetic balls
By Megan Mellado
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ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — Hannah Arrington is a mom of five.
She says sometime in April one of her older kids brought tiny magnetic balls home from school.
Shortly after, her youngest son, Konin, started having stomach pain that eventually sent him to the emergency room.
“From the time he got them from whoever he got them from, Konin ended up swallowing 16 of them and we had no idea,” Arrington said.
There are a number of products on the market that match the description.
One brand “BuckyBalls” was banned by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for causing serious injuries, such as holes in the stomach and intestines or even death after being ingested, but the balls made their way back onto store shelves, and into the Arrington household, after a judge lifted the ban.
“As he ate them, they went down into his digestive tract, and then each time he would find another one somewhere in the house and swallow it, it would click together and it perforated a hole through his stomach all the way down into his colon area,” Arrington said.
After extensive surgery, the magnets are out, but Konin is back in the hospital with a feeding tube- as doctors run tests to figure out why he can’t keep anything down.
His mom’s message to others: double, even triple check what your kids bring home.
“Me and my husband never thought we would have to pretty much pat our kids down when they come home from school and yeah you check your kids backpack and ask how their day was but how often do you go through their pant packet? Their shirt pocket?” She said.
On BuckyBall’s website, the company advertises the product as a desktoy. The site also has a warning to keep the balls away from children.
You can help the family with hospital bills here: gofund.me/33c1682a
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