13 May 2024 , 13:20
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A distraught mum has claimed her teenage son was nearly killed when his crucifix necklace electrocuted him in a freak accident.
Danielle Davis, 38, was jolted awake when she heard a piercing scream from her son's next door bedroom on the night of April 30th. The mum-of-six went to check on her son Rayce Ogdahl when he appeared in the hallway with "scorched burns" across his neck.
The 16-year-old told his mum that he had been electrocuted by his own necklace after the chain came into contact with the exposed prong of a plug. Photos showed Rayce's neck and collarbone charred black with the imprint of his chain seared into his skin.
After he ripped the chain off his neck, the cross and necklace left a burning three-inch hole in Rayce's mattress. The teen was then rushed to the burns unit at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was then admitted to the intensive care unit where he was treated for his injuries.
The cross burned through several inches of the teen's bed (Kennedy News and Media)
The 16-year-old told his mum that he had been electrocuted by his own necklace (Kennedy News and Media)The mum, who lives in Yukon, about 17 miles west of Oklahoma City, said she feels lucky not to have lost her son that night and is now urging peope to remain vigilant of electrical cords, wires and plugs. She added: "It was a normal night and we'd only been asleep for around an hour when we half heard a noise then heard yelling from Rayce's room. We thought maybe he's playing a video game and getting frustrated.
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"Then I heard him shout 'mom' and my son was standing in the hallway. He said 'I've been electrocuted. It was my necklace'. There were scorch necks around his neck. And the smell was awful. The whole house smelled like burnt hair and skins and electrical burns. We started calling 911 for an ambulance.
"He explained to us that he was in bed, rolled over to get comfortable when he heard something fall off the bed. He said he wanted to make sure his phone was still charging so his alarm would go off for school the next day. He said he leaned out of the bed and when he did the cross necklace around his neck made contact with the prongs from the plug in an extension cord which were just barely exposed.
Rayce was left with burns across his neck (Kennedy News and Media)
Rayce was left with severe burns across his neck (Kennedy News and Media)"He said he was completely conscious through the whole thing and was aware he was being electrocuted. Because everything was metal, it made a complete circuit around his neck. It was like a hot coil. And he has burns on his hands from trying to rip his chain around his neck. It was a thick, heavy chain. The crazy thing was during the electrocution, it welded part of his chain to the charger. And the cross pendant on the chain melted three inches into the mattress through the sheets of his bed.
"He said this all happened within a matter of seconds and he visibly saw sparks coming from his neck. He told me his whole body hurt and he thought he was going to die."
Rayce was rushed to hospital following the incident where doctors told the family he had endured "enough amps to kill him" - and monitored the function of his heart over the following days. The teen suffered second, third and fourth degree burns and will be left with scars for life.
Stay-at-home mum Danielle said: "You can see the pattern of the necklace on his neck. It's left a significant mark. He's got a lot of scars. They're speaking about doing a skin graft but Rayce doesn't want that unless it's medically necessary. It's almost his entire neck that's covered in scars. It's from his chin to his collarbone. The incident has definitely made Rayce a lot more self-aware. It was very eye-opening. We're just so grateful he's okay. He could've easily died that night. It was amazing he was still conscious and could still alert us. It would've been a different story.
"When it comes to your phone, there's not a text message or notification that is important enough to have your phone on your bed. Anything can happen and Rayce is proof of that. Pay attention to your cords and I would recommend to anybody don't use extension cords at all."