A mum has warned parents about a potential danger of the fidget spinner craze after her 10-year-old daughter got part of one stuck in her throat.
Kelly Rose Joneic, from Texas, US, explained that her daughter Britton had put the toy in her mouth to clean it and ended up swallowing a bit of it while in the car.
“I saw her face turning red and drool pouring from her mouth – she could utter noises but looked panicked so I immediately pulled over,” the mum wrote on Facebook on Monday 15 May.
“She pointed to her throat saying she’d swallowed something, so I attempted Heimlich but there was no resistance.”
Joneic did not specify what brand the fidget spinner was.
The mum said she took her daughter straight to hospital and from there they were taken via ambulance to Texas Children’s Hospital.
An x-ray showed a metal part of the spinner was lodged in Britton’s oesophagus.
“After multiple, very stressful attempts to place an IV, Britton was taken to surgery to endoscopically locate and remove the object,” the mum explained.
“Fortunately we had a positive outcome, but it was pretty scary there for a while... not only because of the initial ingestion, but then the concern about the composition and structure of the object.”
She wanted to share her daughter’s experience as a warning to parents because the toy is such a widespread craze.
“Kids of all ages may be getting them, but not all spinners come with age-appropriate warnings,” she wrote.
“The bushings pop out easily, so if you have young kids (under eight) keep in mind that these present a potential choking hazard.”
The Facebook post was shared more than 430,000 times in two days and had more than 40,000 comments.
“I bought one for my five-year-old granddaughter and it is in the trash now because of your story,” one woman wrote.
Rob Ellard from Fidget Spinner UK explained the product in question was not one of his company’s, reiterating that their terms and conditions state that customers must be over the age of 18 to purchase the products sold on their site.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, he said: “As a father of four children, my heart goes out to the Joniecs for experiencing such an ordeal and I’m relieved there were no complications with the object’s removal and subsequent treatment.
“I sincerely hope Britton has not been traumatised by her experience. Children can choke on anything, from grapes to LEGO and Britton’s mother Kelly is to be commended for taking such swift action. As parents we must be ever vigilant and Kelly’s experience demonstrates that.
“Retailers have an obligation to market and sell responsibly and products should only be bought from a reputable source.”