As any parent out there will know, it only takes a split second for something to go wrong where little ones are concerned, and the following story is a stark reminder of this.
Our hearts go out to the family of Ron Zelner, who passed away at the age of just 10 months after choking on a piece of apple.
An inquest into the tragic incident, which occurred in December 2014, in Kildare, was held in the Dublin Coroner’s Court this week.
During the hearing, the tot’s devastated parents recalled giving little Ron – who had ‘three or four teeth’ – a piece of apple, but quickly getting ‘a bad feeling’ as he munched on it.
The child’s mother first noticed that he couldn’t breathe, and tried slapping his back to get the piece of fruit up. When that didn’t work, she gave him mouth-to-mouth.
Little Ron’s father then took the child and ran into a neighbouring nursing home, where staff attempted to resuscitate him. An ambulance was called, and the child was rushed to Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin.
According to the Irish Mirror, hospital staff managed to resuscitate Ron, and he was placed in intensive care. An MRI confirmed he had suffered a serious brain injury, and the tot was sadly pronounced dead just over a week later.
This week’s inquest heard that the cause of death had been determined as hypoxic brain injury secondary cardiac arrest, which Coroner Dr Brian Farrell linked with choking.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Zelner family after their devastating loss.
