Girl, 2, almost dies after swallowing six magnets that 'burned holes in stomach'
A terrified mum claims her baby daughter almost died after swallowing six magnetic 'fidget' balls - but doctors dismissed her symptoms as a 'tummy bug' and left the toys burning holes in her stomach for two weeks.
Worried Jade Berriman said her two-year-old daughter Meliyah-Jayd had to undergo emergency surgery when her body began to poison itself after the 4mm balls burnt four holes in her small bowels. The 31-year-old claims she feared her little girl was going to die when she started vomiting litres of dark green liquid, but fortunately survived after undergoing an emergency op to have 40cm of her bowel removed. Meliyah-Jayd has now been left with a permanent 12-centimetre scar across her stomach after accidentally swallowing the magnetic 'fidget' balls.
Meliyah-Jayd lies in her hospital bed after her operation to remove the metal balls from her stomach (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)Jade said Meliyah-Jayd initially began complaining of a stomach ache on September 2 and when the pain persisted, she called 111 and took her daughter to visit an out-of-hours doctor at the Story Street Walk-in Centre in Hull. The concerned mum said the doctor diagnosed her toddler with gastroenteritis, inflamed bowels and a sore throat and she was sent home.
But after her daughter's tummy pains got progressively worse and she discovered her 'rolling around' and 'wailing' in the early hours of Sunday September, Jade rushed her to the Children's A&E department at Hull Royal Infirmary. By this point the poorly toddler had been continuously throwing up for nearly a week and hadn't been to the toilet in 48 hours.
Meliyah's six inch abdomen scar (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)But after seeing the doctor, Jade claims her tot's stomach pains were dismissed and she was diagnosed with tonsillitis and sent home with antibiotics. The mum-of-three is now warning other parents to 'always trust your gut' when their children fall ill as she claims her little girl almost died after being wrongly diagnosed twice.
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Jade said: "A week after her tummy pain first started, I came home from work and on Sunday morning she was rolling in pain. She wasn't crying, she was wailing. It was the worst sound I had ever heard, so we took her to A&E. I was then asked to collect a urine sample off my daughter but because she was so dehydrated from the sickness she couldn't do so. A doctor then looked at her throat and diagnosed her with tonsillitis. I knew that was completely wrong but they gave her antibiotics and shipped me out with a lethargic baby who was being sick constantly and screaming with tummy pain.
Poorly Meliyah in hospital (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)"I said I don't think it is and her dad said it wasn't either. We know the symptoms of tonsillitis as our middle son had his tonsils out from this when he was younger. You don't get tummy pain with tonsillitis. I'm so upset with how little care she got at Hull Royal Infirmary A&E. I feel they failed to give my daughter the duty of care she needed and this could have killed her.
"If they had done their job, it may have saved the damage she had suffered. I would say to parents, you know your child better than anyone else. You fight for what you believe. If you think your daughter or son is really poorly, you tell the doctors and do not get passed. Do not leave until you know your child has the care they need.Nobody knows their child better than their mother and parents need to trust their gut."
The six magnetic balls removed from Meliyah had joined together (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)
Meliyah-Jayd back home in Hull recovering from her ordeal (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)After being sent home from A&E with penicillin, Jade said Meliyah-Jayd projectile vomited every time she tried to give her a dose of the medication so she rang her GP on Monday, September. But after she struggled to get a same-day appointment and her daughter continued to cry out in agony, she rushed her to the Beverly Urgent Treatment Centre in Hull who admitted the toddler to Hull Royal Infirmary.
Jade said by this point, her tiny tot had lost all colour in her face and thought her child was dying. "At this point, I knew she was dying and had an awful feeling that we were going to lose her. [At the urgent care centre] they rushed her through as a priority and then the doctor rang the hospital and got her admitted straight away. She was losing all her colour and was so lethargic."
Baby Meliyah sucks on a yoghurt in hospital after her stomach surgery (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)At the hospital, Jade said 24-hour tests were run on Meliyah-Jayd but they all came back normal on Wednesday, September 13. But when the two-year-old's body started to poison itself and she began throwing up dark green liquid she was taken for an ultrasound which revealed her stomach was filled with fluids, which was immediately pumped from her body.
An X-ray was then taken on Meliyah-Jayd's stomach which is when Jade said the doctors finally discovered the six magnetic beads in her bowels which were causing the two-year-old's pain. Meliyah-Jayd was then rushed in for a three-hour emergency operation to have the beads extracted which resulted in 40cm of her bowels being removed.
Mum Jade with her poorly two-year-old (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)Jade said: "On Wednesday morning she was very sick. It must have been litres flying out of her tummy. It was a green colour like the dark green innocent smoothie and this was her poo. Her body was poisoning her. She was so floppy and weak she couldn't hold herself up. She was choking on her own vomit and we had to hold her up. I grabbed the doctor and cried and asked for them to do more scans. She was dying. I knew she was dying and I knew she was leaving me. She was just getting weaker. It was awful. I can't even describe what it was like.
|I laid her on the X-ray bed and within seconds they asked me if she was laying on balls, which she wasn't and this is when we discovered she had swallowed the magnetic balls. Within the hour she was having emergency bowel surgery. The surgeon said he didn't know how she survived all that time in so much pain. He said he's taken a lot of magnets out of children but this is the worst he had ever seen. After she was admitted to hospital, I can't fault the doctor's or staff's help and thank everyone at Beverly Urgent Treatment Centre too."
Following her operation, Meliyah-Jayd spent five days on the high dependency ward and then another two on the Acorn ward before being discharged and is now recovering at home with her family but Jade said her daughter remains on 'amber alert' for the next six weeks to make sure her bowels don't leak, which could result in her having a stoma fitted if they do.
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Meliyah-Jayd is visited by her two big brothers in hospital. (Kennedy News/ Jadelee Berriman)Jade added: "We think she took the balls individually and because they're magnets they've come together in her bowels and put a hole all the way through. She's still in recovery and classed in 'amber alert' as the bowels still could leak. If it shows signs of it leaking, she'll have to go back into hospital and get a stoma fitted but I'm relieved that she is on the road to recovery. Jade is now urging for parents to be wary of these magnetic balls and posted on Facebook to raise awareness of the dangers of children swallowing them.
She said: "Don't buy these metal balls. I wish I had never bought them for my son. Of course, I am partly to blame for purchasing these for my older children and she must have swallowed them when I had my back turned for a second but I want to raise awareness on how dangerous these tiny little balls can be."This good have been goodbye post."
A Hull University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust spokesperson said: "We are very sorry to hear that the care Meliyah-Jayd received did not meet the expectations of her family. We currently have no record of the family contacting us via our PALS or complaints teams but we would encourage them to do so in order that we can investigate appropriately. We are glad to hear that Meliyah-Jayd is recovering now and that she and her mother were happy with the care they received after she was admitted to hospital."
A City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP) spokesperson who covers Story Street Walk-in Centre said they can't comment on individual cases but urges anyone unhappy with their services to get in touch. The spokesperson said: "A City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP) cannot disclose any details about the care of individual patients as this would be a breach of confidentiality, but we would urge anyone who has used our services and is unhappy about any aspect of their care to get in touch with our Customer Care team who will endeavour to resolve any problem or concern as quickly as possible."
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