Watch the video above: An Elmira mother warns about the danger of one small battery. Laura Zilke reports.
TORONTO – An Elmira mother is warning parents about the dangers of small batteries after her son choked on one two weeks ago, putting him at risk for severe burns.
Eleven-month-old Brenden Wright nearly died after the battery became stuck in his throat.
He was playing with a remote control when he opened it and put the battery in his mouthwhile his nearby motherwas preparing a snack.
“When I saw the cartridge sitting outside the remote and the battery gone – then I knew right away – he swallowed the battery,” Brenden’s mother, Nicole Wright said.
He started choking, she ran to get a paramedic and called 911.
Beyond choking,the battery posed another problem for the toddler while it was stuck in his throat.
Watch: A simple experiment can show the danger of lithium batteries. Laura Zilke reports.
Human saliva interacts with the battery to create an electrical current and in a matter of hours, can lead to severe burns.
Brenden was transferred between two hospitals while a team of doctors and nurses surgically removed the battery.
He has a 3.5-centimetre burn on his esophagus and his mother says his voice has changed slightly.
“The surgeon said yesterday that his left vocal cord is immobile,” she said. “So, it’s too soon to tell whether that will repair.”
A toddler in Las Vegas died in October after swallowing a battery, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
And it’s not uncommon. According to a report in the Daily Mail, approximately 65,000 American children were taken to the emergency room after swallowing a battery between 1990 and 2009.
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