An 11-year-old girl is lucky to be alive after accidentally swallowing two of the popular magnetic Buckyballs.
Halina Adams was hospitalized for five days after the strong pea-sized magnets became lodged in the sixth grader’s intestines.
Buckyballs were banned in 2012 after thousands of children ingested them, leaving some dead. However, they were put back on the market after the company sued and a settlement recalled the magnets in 2014.
Now Halina’s father Aaron wishes they weren’t as he speaks out about the dangers of the toy to warn other parents who may have purchased them as a Holiday gift for their children.
A scan shows the two small magnets lodged in the 11-year-old’s intestines
The sixth grader accidentally swallowed two Buckyballs, pea-sized strong magnets that have caused thousands of hospitalizations and even death
A friend brought the Buckyballs to Halin’s Illinois school on Thursday when she asked to play with them.
According to her father, Halina put the Buckyballs on either side of her lips when the strong magnets broke apart and went to the back of her throat.
She immediately went to the hospital where two colonoscopies were able to remove them.
Dr Biank, who treated Halina told WGN that swallowing magnets is a medical emergency.
‘If you perforate the GI track you can get very sick very fast. It would kind of be like a perforated appendix. You can get incredibly ill, almost life threatening ill,’ he said.
If left untreated, the balls could connect pieces of tissue together causing tears in the intestines.
This was the case of 19-month-old Annaka Chaffin from California, who died after swallowing seven Buckyballs from a necklace in 2013.
An autopsy showed the magnets had become attached to one another in her small intestine, which perforated her bowel and caused it to become septic.
Some 7,700 other children had been rushed to hospital for accidentally swallowing the magnets or confusing them for candy by 2014.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission first banned the sale of Buckyballs in 2012.
After CEO Craig Zucker sued the CPSC, they came to a settlement where Buckyballs was required to recall the products in 2014.
The magnets cost between $25 and $80 and come in packs of 100 or more.
Halina’s father Aaron Adams is speaking out about the dangers of the toy and warning parents not to buy them as their children’s Christmas gift