A British mum has issued an important warning to parents everywhere, after her daughter swallowed a coin last weekend.
Corinne Beattie was left fearing for daughter Emelia’s life when she told her she had swallowed the coin, and began choking in their home.
The mother-of-two contacted an NHS helpline for advice and was instructed to bring her daughter to hospital immediately. After the initial assessment, Emilia started to be sick, but there was still no sign of the coin.
While the doctor assured the family that the coin had likely entered the little girl’s stomach and would pass through naturally, Corinne wasn’t happy and voiced her concerns. Eventually, little Emilia was brought in for a chest x-ray, to make sure the coin hadn’t entered her windpipe or lungs.
Corinne admitted that this was done just to give her ‘peace of mind’ – but, as it turns out, she was so right to push for the extra examination.
“I’ve attached a photo of her first x-ray that clearly shows that my ‘what ifs’ were correct. The coin was lodged in her gullet, just below her voice box,” she wrote.
This is when the ‘panic set in’ for Corinne, but thankfully, the staff acted fast. Little Emilia was given a bed in hospital and examined by an ENT specialist. She was then admitted for a procedure to remove the coin.
“I had to sign the consent forms not knowing what would happen to my little baby, whether they would damage her teeth, lips, gums, throat, or worse!” wrote a traumatised Corinne.
Thankfully, everything worked out all right. Emilia had the procedure on Saturday night, and a relieved Corinne was told that ‘everything had gone perfect’.
Corinne knows that this incident could have worked out a whole lot differently, and now that her little girl is ‘back to her normal, bright, bubbly self’, she wants to send a special warning to mums and dads everywhere: keep those coins out of reach of little hands.
“Please, please, please; if you have an older child who has a coin purse, make sure they put all the pennies back.
“If you leave your purse in the reach of your children, please don’t! Just move it. I don’t want anyone to have to go through what me, Seppy and our families experienced yesterday!”
We are so relieved to hear that little Emilia is doing well now, and well done to Corinne for sharing this important warning.
