AN eight-year-old girl was rushed to hospital "screaming in pain" after part of a water balloon got stuck in her nose.
Little Leah had been playing with friends in a swimming pool when she accidentally inhaled the tiny fragments.
The panicked youngster then burst into tears and she was taken to A&E, where doctors removed six small magnets.
They had fallen out of the reusable water balloons onto her towel, which Leah had just wiped her face dry with.
Mum Kelley Whitty wants to warn parents of the dangers of the popular summer toys so no other family has to endure the same ordeal.
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She said: "I got a call from Jenn [Leah's friend's mum] to say that while swimming, something flew into Leah's nose and it wouldn't come out.
"Initially I chuckled because she's eight. What could possibly get into her noise that she can't get out?
"[But I later learned] Leah got out of the pool, wiped her face with a towel and immediately started screaming.
"I could hear Leah crying and freaking out, saying that it burned and stung.
"I could hear the fear in Jenn's voice that something was really wrong, so I immediately made the choice to meet them at the children's hospital."
Kelley, from Ohio, said every nurse and healthcare assistant they encountered was "completely baffled" by what had happened.
Even when the doctors arrived, their "minds were blown", the mum added.
By this point, Leah was "freaking out so badly and screaming in pain", she had to be sedated.
Only then did everyone discover the cause of the problem.
Kelley said: "They removed not one, not two, but six magnets that had bonded to her septum.
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"The force of these tiny magnets was so strong it perforated it.
"They fell out of a reusable water balloon and must have been on Leah's towel, unbeknownst to her."
To make matters worse, the magnets had to be carefully tweezered out one by one because the force holding them together was so powerful.
Four were on one side of her nose and two were on the other, stuck together through her cartilage.
'THROW THEM AWAY'
Thankfully, Leah recovered quickly and now just has to have a follow-up appointment to ensure no permanent damage has been caused.
But Kelley wants others to learn from their awful experience.
She said: "We are super thankful that this wasn't worse than it could have been.
"But these toys are marketed to young kids, with no warning at all, and clearly could result in severe injury, especially if ingested.
"Throw them away.
"The hospital has put out a public warning to parents of the blind danger these toys can have."
Speaking on Good Morning America, she added: "No one ever wants to see their children hurt or in pain.
"I had to sit in the corner of the room and watch doctors and nurses lay on top of Leah, only being able to comfort her at a distance.
"That was really hard.
"Physically Leah's good, but there's still that mental trauma.
"This was a traumatic experience and I want to make sure it can save anyone else from going through it."
My daughter was freaking out so badly and screaming in pain.
Kelley Whitty
The incident caught the attention of Dr Meghan Martin from John Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida.
The paediatric emergency medicine physician said: "These magnets are maybe two or three millimetres and usually a circle or a square.
"They're very easy for a small child to ingest or to put in their nose or their ears, where they could be a problem.
"If it's tissue in the nose or the intestines that's in between the magnets, they will come together and those forces can damage the tissue underneath.
"One magnet is generally not as much of a problem as if you have more than one.
"If you have one on one side of an intestine and one on the other side, they want to pull together and they can actually perforate or create a hole in the intestine.
"That lets intestinal contents out into the abdomen which is very dangerous.
"Refillable water balloons that have magnets in them should not be around small children.
"There are several very safe alternatives."
In 2021, the NHS issued a patient safety alert after at least 65 children were admitted to hospital for urgent surgery after swallowing magnets.
A spokesperson for the health service said: "The magnetic objects are forced together in the intestines or bowels, squeezing the tissue so that the blood supply is cut off.
"Ingesting more than one can be life-threatening and cause significant damage within hours."
Professor Simon Kenny, paediatric surgeon and national clinical director for children and young people at NHS England, wants them banned altogether.
He said: "Magnets are a source of fascination for children, and magnetic toys can look like a cheap and cheerful way of occupying the kids, but ultimately they aren’t safe and shouldn’t be for sale.
"There is nothing fun for children or their parents about surgery to remove magnets that have been swallowed and become stuck together through different parts of the intestines, or the long-term physical problems and internal scarring that can be left behind.
"I would urge parents to be aware of the dangers associated with magnetic toys but ultimately, the only way we can prevent future incidents is to stop these items being sold altogether."
