Many young kids can only dream of being a Marvel character, but one boy learned the hard way that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
An 8-year-old accidentally swallowed a magnetic toy from Amazon, effectively turning him into X-Men’s Magneto, Kennedy News and Media reported.
Louise Mcfarlane gave her son, Junior Gallon, a set of magnetic building balls two years ago, and up until the incident he had only used them for their intended purpose — to build models.
But on Dec. 22, Gallon decided to pretend that he had a tongue piercing, placing two of the magnets in his set on either side of his oral appendage.
He called to his mom to confess that he accidentally swallowed the magnets, and Mcfarlane, 36, explained that the two magnetic balls — which were “very small and very powerful” — had “shot” to the back of his throat.
“Junior had come out of his room and said, ‘Mummy, I’ve got an emergency,’” Mcfarlane, from England, shared. “I went in and he said he swallowed two of these magnets. He burst out crying.
“He said he thought it would be ‘cool’ having a tongue piercing. He had tried to make it look like a tongue piercing and as soon as he had done that, they pinged off his tongue and popped together,” she added.
Mcfarlane noted that they always tell him not to put the magnets in his mouth. but “obviously he panicked when he swallowed them because he knew it was the wrong thing to do.”
She rushed her son to the hospital, where an X-ray revealed the magnets clumped together in his stomach.
“He was lucky they pinned together before he swallowed them; it could’ve been a completely different story,” the mom of two shared.
The doctors expressed grave concern that the magnets might attach on opposite sides of the organ, which could be disastrous, and if the balls had been jagged, Gallon’s bowel could have been ripped open.
The boy was kept overnight at the hospital, and the following day a follow-up X-ray showed that the magnets moved to the right side of his body.
Doctors told Mcfarlane that her son was no longer in danger and to wait until the magnets passed naturally.
Gallon was advised to stay away from other magnets and metal items as they can move the magnets from where they currently were and lead to damage.
“They told us to keep magnetic items and clothes away from him, even [zippers], because the magnets in his body can follow the zips. We had to make sure we had no clothing like that for a good few weeks,” Mcfarlane said.
While they did not notice the magnets being passed, a subsequent X-ray revealed they were no longer in Gallon’s body.
“You hear horror stories when kids do die, with batteries and stuff, so you instantly think the worst,” Mcfarlane said. “His dad and I really prepared ourselves, but it was a massive relief when we realized he was okay.”
She shared that she was “in shock” by the incident and “how dangerous it could be.”
Mcfarlane put all magnetic objects in the house in bins and is now warning other parents about the dangers of buying the toys for their kids.
“They’re on social media; people have thousands of them and they build lots of things, like houses. Junior wanted them to build after he watched those videos,” she said.
“Don’t buy them — it’s not worth it. They look cool in the videos but it’s just not worth having them around, even if you trust your kids not to put them in their mouths. I trusted Junior and then, all of a sudden, he had one silly thought,” she added.
The mom admitted that she won’t be buying any magnetic toys again and will opt for other playthings.
“He has autism, so he likes his fidget toys, but the magnets went straight in the bin.”
An Amazon spokesperson told Kennedy News that they were “saddened” to hear about the incident and were reaching out to the family.
“Safety is a top priority at Amazon, and we require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws, regulations and our policies,” the spokesperson said.
“We have proactive measures in place to prevent prohibited products from being listed, and we continuously monitor our store.
“We have removed this product while we investigate.”
