Mom warns of fidget spinner dangers after her daughter requires surgery
A Texas woman is warning people about a potential hazard after her daughter swallowed part of a fidget spinner and needed surgery last weekend.
Houston area mom Kelly Rose Joniec said her 10-year-old daughter’s fidget spinner led to “a pretty eventful Saturday,” The Dallas Morning News reports.
“On the way home from a fun swim meet, I heard Britton make an odd retching noise in the back seat as I was driving,” Joniec wrote in a Facebook post. “Looking back in the mirror, I saw her face turning red and drool pouring from her mouth.”
Joniec took Britton to urgent care, but doctors couldn’t tell where the foreign object was located – along the airway or the esophagus.
“From there we got the red-light treatment via ambulance to Texas Children’s Hospital. X-ray showed the spinner bushing lodged in her esophagus,” Joniec posted. “The GI doctor was fascinated ... he’d only just learned of fidget spinners that morning when he was at the mall with his son, so it was a surprise to be faced with one in a case a few hours later. He’s also an advocate for related child safety in toys, so he took a special interest in the case.
“After multiple, very stressful attempts to place an IV, Britton was taken to surgery to endoscopically locate and remove the object. Fortunately we had a positive outcome, but it was pretty scary there for a while.”
A spokesperson for Texas Children’s Hospital confirmed to McClatchy that the girl was treated at the facility. The family is declining media interviews at this time.
The immensely popular fidget spinners are smaller than your palm, with two or three prongs with circles in them, along with a circular pad in the middle where you hold the device with your finger and thumb and spin it. Manufacturers say the gadgets aren’t just fun to play with, but also help people with ADHD, anxiety, autism and various other conditions.
They are so popular that some teachers have banned them in the classroom. Some schools in Manchester, England, made headlines recently when they announced a fidget toy ban via text message, enraging parents of special-needs students in the process.
Joniec had this warning for parents after her ordeal:
“From this I wish to offer some word of caution to parents. Fidget spinners are the current craze so they are widely distributed. Kids of all ages may be getting them, but not all spinners come with age-appropriate warnings. The bushings pop out easily, so if you have young kids (under 8 yr old) keep in mind that these present a potential choking hazard.”
This story was originally published May 17, 2017 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Mom warns of fidget spinner dangers after her daughter requires surgery."