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Man Swallows AirPods While Asleep But Only Realised When He Saw X-ray

Man Swallows AirPods While Asleep But Only Realised When He Saw X-ray

Brad woke up choking after ingesting the tiny earphones

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A man woke up gasping for air after swallowing his AirPods during the night, but didn't realise what he had done until hours later.

Brad Gauthier, from Worcester, Massachusetts, knew something had gone wrong right away, but it wasn't until he was presented with an X-ray that he realised he had eaten his earphones.

After having some water, the 38-year-old carried on with his day, doing some housework and tending to his snow-filled driveway.

It wasn't until, while searching for the missing ear pieces, his wife Heather, 32 and son Owen, 15, joked he may have accidentally swallowed it, that the penny started to drop.

Brad then rushed down to hospital to get checked out, and there it was.

He said: "It was pretty funny, when she left the room I could hear a bit of chatter outside - 'No it couldn't be?'

"She came back in, looks at me and says, 'I'll be damned, you swallowed it'.

Brad with his wife Heather, his son Owen and his daughter Avianna.
Caters

"They were all jaws a slack, looking at this X-ray, on the screen where you could see it in such clear definition. Fortunately, she was able to get me right through an endoscopy centre they're affiliated with."

Brad went to bed on Monday (1 February) night and put his AirPods in to prevent him from being woken up by his six-month-old daughter Avianna.

He thinks that they must have found their way into his mouth at some point during the night.

Despite being confident of success, however, doctors warned Brad that it could have ended very badly for him.

Even the endoscopy they performed was not without its risks, they told him, as it could have potentially caused the AirPod to become dislodged, and possibly entering his stomach or lung passageway.

Fortunately, however, the surgery was successful and he was able to go home with his AirPods.

He didn't realise what had happened until he went to the hospital.
Caters

Brad is fully aware how fortunate he was to get to hospital when he did and not suffer a more serious injury.

He said: "Had I inhaled it or it had gotten lodged or constricted my airway that could have certainly been a significantly more serious matter.

"You don't have a lot of runway if you obstruct your breathing and something happens, who would even think that's what it was if you wake up to something like that.

"I'm really lucky things happened the way they did and got it resolved so quickly, along with it being wedged in the position that it was."

You will be pleased to know that the AirPods still work, though the microphone is broken.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: US News, Technology, Apple, Health