That is a lot of magnets.
Little Noah Lefau from Melbourne was being babysat by his grandmother when he sneakily ate thirty little metal magnets.
The magnets were stuck to the top of the fridge but still not safe from Noah’s eager hands. The five-year-old climbed on a chair to reach what he thought were sweets.
Noah’s Mum, Christelle, talking to Seven News, said that her own mother had called her up around lunch time and told her that Noah was sick. She said that he was “on the ground, curled up, and just in pain.”
Noah was rushed to hospital where an X-Ray showed up a string of tiny balls inside his stomach.
At first, his mother thought that they were the little balls used for decorating cakes but the doctor informed her that they were, in fact, metal. Noah had eaten them separately and they had come together again in his stomach.
Noah was in surgery for six hours while the doctors removed the magnets and repaired the damage they had done.
Dr Maurizio Pacilli said:
“I must confess, I’ve never seen a kid swallowing 30 magnets.
“They travel along inside the intestine and they are attracted to each other so they’re trying to get together. And by doing this, they can actually create little holes inside the guts.
“We found about ten or twelve holes, which then we had to fix and stitch one at a time, and also we had to remove parts of the intestine.”
A young Pakenham boy was hours from death after swallowing 30 fridge magnets. Doctors are warning parents of the dangers of leaving them within reach of children after seeing a rise in admissions to hospital. @georgiamain7 #7News pic.twitter.com/9IzeDajVTn
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) July 23, 2018
Noah’s father, Fiso, expressed his shock at how something so small could do so much damage.
Noah is luckily back on his feet now but doctors have reportedly seen an increase in the number of children swallowing magnets. Experts urge parents to be cautious about magnets and toys that include magnets.
