Joshua Nair
A terrifying X-ray has revealed how a battery from a remote control was stuck in a child's throat, leaving his mother horrified.
Asa Allen was just 16 months old when he ingested a button battery while playing outside with his siblings while his mum was busy cleaning the family's camper van.
Kasey Allen, 32, had travelled to see her husband in Texas, and found the camera remote for the camper van in pieces, and soon noticed an ill-looking Asa coughing and drooling.
While she thought he was just tired, the mother put the toddler down for a nap but saw him looking worse after waking up, realising that he was coughing up black chunks of battery coating.
Advert
Kasey quickly called her nurse friend, who advised her to bring Asa to the hospital as soon as possible. After a visit to a local health centre, Asa was referred to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas, US.
The battery was taken out of his oesophagus nine hours after he swallowed it, before he was put on a ventilator for six days.
A harrowing X-ray of the young boy's oesophagus revealed that the battery was lodged right in there.
Luckily, Asa fought through it all and is now three.
Advert
Kasey has been raising awareness for the dangers around button batteries since that horror experience in October 2023.
The Louisiana-native explained: "He found a camera remote, which was mounted on the steering wheel. I was in and out [of the campervan] but I never saw him get the remote.
"I saw this remote lying on the floor in four pieces. I don't know exactly when he swallowed it but it was around 30 minutes after I found the remote that his symptoms started."
She noted that he was 'flushed and fatigued' afterward, and first thought that he was coughing 'his insides' out, though it was bits of the battery.
Advert
"They did the X-ray and he had swallowed the battery which was lodged between his collarbone. From there, they transported us to a bigger hospital and they needed three doctors to get it out," she recalled.
Kasey believed that her son was 'going to die', adding: "I was shocked, I couldn't even move, I really felt numb. It was like a punch in the gut."
When doctors finally managed to get the battery out, she remembered her son not moving and that 'he had a thousand tubes going in him'.
Long courses of physiotherapy were required, while Asa had to learn to chew and swallow again. His oesophagus shrank to just 3mm after swallowing the battery, when it should have been around 12mm for his age.
Advert
In November, Asa had reconstructive surgery on his oesophagus, needing five more weeks in hospital to deal with a leak from the muscular tube.
But now, he is fully healed, his oesophagus is at 15mm and he can eat again, though this hasn't stopped Kasey from warning other parents.
"He had so much scarring. He couldn't eat real food, he would throw it up," she remembered.
Asa's mother added: "He had never swallowed anything like that, he wasn't even putting things in his mouth, which kids his age tend to do.
Advert
"The first thing he put in his mouth was a button battery. Just watch out for button batteries, make sure everything is screwed in if it has a button battery."
Kasey claimed that there are no more button batteries in her house, and that she is 'grateful' they came out the other side with no major issues.