Curiosity can be a boon as well as a bane. Newton’s curiosity helped us with the concept of gravity, but sometimes curiosity can go the wrong way. A schoolboy had to undergo an emergency operation after he swallowed 54 magnets to find out if he will become magnetic.
More Info: Kennedy News and Media
Rhiley Morrison, a 12-year-old swallowed the magnetic balls on two different occasions to figure out if they would make metal stick to his belly- moreover to find out what they’d look like once they’d passed through him.
The boy was waiting for all the 54 magnets to come out from the other end for days, but they didn’t. Then he told his mother Paige Ward that he swallowed two magnets by accident.
Paige rushed his son to the hospital where the x-ray revealed that there were 54 small magnetic toys in his stomach and bowel.
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Doctors were fearful that the magnet could cause a lot of harm to the young boy. The magnets could burn through the youngster’s tissue or vital organs and could even potentially cause fatal damage. He was immediately rushed for an emergency operation.
Rhiley, who has ADHD and autism, is now recovering at home and his mother wishes to share this incident with the world to warn parents about the dangers of these toys.
Paige, from Prestwich, Greater Manchester, said: “I was gobsmacked, just speechless when I heard the number he’d swallowed.
“The doctors guessed around 25-30 from the x-ray, but when he came out of surgery they said they got 54 magnets.
“I think what made it harder is that I just didn’t understand how or why he would swallow that many.
“Rhiley is massively into science, he loves experiments, and he eventually admitted ‘I tried to stick magnets to me, I wanted to see if this copper would stick to my belly while the magnets were in’.
“It’s just so silly, but he’s a child and that’s what kids do. He also thought it would be fun seeing them come out the other end.”
Rhiley saved up for these magnetic balls. He consumed the first lot on 1st January and the second one on 4th January.
After the emergency operation Rhiley faced some complications a he was unable to move without vomiting green liquid caused by his bowel leaking – he also wasn’t able to eat or go to the toilet.
Paige said: “I don’t want other kids or parents going through that. When he did it I thought it was just him, he’s just been silly and done it, but the surgeon said they see this all the time. Magnets aren’t toys, they shouldn’t be sold as toys.”
“My message to other parents is to just put them in the bin, don’t buy them in the first place. The surgeon said that if Rhiley didn’t tell me that day he’d swallowed the magnets he could have died. They could have clashed and ripped his bowel and he could have ended up with sepsis.Rhiley was lucky but some kids aren’t and won’t be.”
“He’s taken all of his 54 magnets out of his room now, he won’t entertain them. It was a traumatic lesson for both of us.”