A mother has urged parents to be extra vigilant when it comes to fridge magnets after her young son ended up in hospital after ingesting antifreeze from one.
Deborah Cooney’s 11-month-old son Shay ingested ethylene glycol after getting his hands on a bottle-shaped fridge magnet.
When she saw him sucking on it, she took it off him immediately but he had already consumed the liquid. The little boy starting to cough, was having trouble breathing and became limp.
Deborah explained in a Facebook post: “I rang the ambulance and the paramedics came as fast as they could. My fiancé who works only a minute away also rushed home straight away when I rang him in a panic.”
Whilst the paramedics wanted to get Shay airlifted to Waterford General Hospital, the coastguard wouldn’t make the journey. Thankfully the toddler eventually made it to hospital however he was barely responding.
Deborah continued: “I really didn't think he was going to make it… but thankfully my boy who is made of tough stuff started to come around in the hospital… And my doctor has told us that another child could have taken that substance and collapsed and, that would have been it.”
She is now urging parents with young children to throw away any magnets with liquid in them and doesn’t want other parents going through what she did.
“We had no idea”, she wrote. “I never would have thought for a minute it could have been so toxic. I will be going through my house with a fine tooth comb now.”
Little Shay is now home from the hospital and is on the mend but it does go to show how easily these things can happen.
