TX - Reese Hamsmith, 17 mos; Baby swallowed button battery & died; Lubbock; 8 Mar 2021

[imstilla.grandma]

Trista Hamsmith recently shared her daughter Reese’s story on Instagram. According to the post, Reese swallowed a remote control battery last October. The tiny button battery reportedly burnt a hole in the toddler’s esophagus, ultimately resulting in her death in December.

2 months ago today I was able to hold you for the last time. It hurts like no pain I can explain. I wish that I could wake up and this nightmare would be over but the ugly reality is that I won’t get that. Here is to you ReRe. You are missed. You are loved. You are perfection. Enjoy every single second of the beauty you are in

Don’t forget that we have opened an insta. Reese’s Purpose please follow!

Hamsmith says Reese first experienced wheezing, congestion and lethargy last October. Her pediatrician believed she had croup, as the symptoms are very similar, and gave her a steroid shot. The doctor told the family to return if Reese’s condition worsened.

After returning home, Hamsmith reportedly realized the battery was missing from their remote control and rushed her child to the emergency room.

The hospital conducted an x-ray which confirmed the battery was in Reese’s throat. She underwent emergency surgery to remove the object.

“There was a hole burned through her trachea and through her esophagus,” Hamsmith told People Magazine. “When that tunnel formed, it was allowing air to go where it didn’t need to be. Food and drinks also went where they didn’t need to go.”

Reese was readmitted to the hospital, according to her mother. She received a gastronomy tube, was placed on a ventilator, and underwent multiple surgeries, although none proved successful.

Reese passed away on December 17.

“Button battery ingestion is so much more common than people realize,” she told People. She also claims that in the past year, emergency room doctors have seen a 93% increase in button battery-related injuries among young children.
Mom issues warning after 17-month-old daughter swallows button battery, dies

*I didn’t know where to put this thread. I thought about putting it in the spotlight on children forum. 93% increase is alarming.

 

[pol100gk]

Very sorry to hear about Reese. My son also swallowed a button battery when he was 10 months old but I witnessed it happening. He threw the alarm clock to the floor as babies that age do and the button battery fell out. We both dived for it but he won and put it in his mouth. I tried to get him to spit it out but he thought it was a game and suddenly he swallowed it. We rushed into hospital and they did an X ray to see if it had traveled down to his stomach. In his case it had actually gone down his throat and was in his stomach. We stayed there for 8 hours, then they took another X ray to see if it had 'traveled' further down - which it had. Then it was clear that he would 'lose' it the natural way and we were allowed to leave the hospital. It was a very scary event and we were very lucky - unlike poor Reese. To this day, I will avoid anything that contains a button battery.

 

[jenpil]

Oh, may God bless her soul and comfort her family
What a terrible accident.
Good post to raise awareness of these button batteries. Let's prevent any more deaths like this one.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“Once the battery is ingested, it starts to erode and it starts to burn,” Hamsmith, 39, of Lubbock, Texas, told TODAY Parents. “Button battery ingestion is so much more common that people realize.”

“This story needs to be told,” Reese’s mother said. “It didn’t have to happen.”


Dr. Emily Durkin, who did not treat Reese, said that swallowing button batteries can cause serious injuries for some children, especially if the batteries become lodged in the esophagus. The esophagus has two areas that are narrow, at the upper and lower end, and button batteries often get trapped there.

“If you get a narrow, flat, pancake-like button battery that gets stuck at one of these natural narrowings, then the front wall of the esophagus collapses against the button battery and the back wall,” said Durkin, medical director of children’s surgery at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “(This) completes that circuit, and electric current actually flows through the esophageal tissues. And when that happens, it starts to kill the tissues at the burn.”

That can “very rapidly” create a hole in the esophagus, which can lead to loads of complications, Durkin said.

“It can be just a devastating injury for a child,” Durkin explained. “It can require operations and having to be fed with a tube.”

Reese underwent emergency surgery in late October and was released home after a short hospital stay. A few days later, the Hamsmith family returned to the emergency room when Reese’s condition began to decline again. The surgeon wanted to do a CT scan.

“We found out that a fistula had been created, which is like a passageway,” Hamsmith said. “There was a hole burned through her trachea and through her esophagus. When that tunnel formed, it was allowing air to go where it didn’t need to be. Food and drinks also went where they didn’t need to go.”

Doctors gave Reese a gastronomy tube to help her receive nutrition by bypassing that hole. She returned to her hospital room sedated on a ventilator.

“That morning was the last morning that we saw her as herself,” Hamsmith said.
A toddler swallowed a button battery and died. Her mom is taking action.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Very sorry to hear about Reese. My son also swallowed a button battery when he was 10 months old but I witnessed it happening. He threw the alarm clock to the floor as babies that age do and the button battery fell out. We both dived for it but he won and put it in his mouth. I tried to get him to spit it out but he thought it was a game and suddenly he swallowed it. We rushed into hospital and they did an X ray to see if it had traveled down to his stomach. In his case it had actually gone down his throat and was in his stomach. We stayed there for 8 hours, then they took another X ray to see if it had 'traveled' further down - which it had. Then it was clear that he would 'lose' it the natural way and we were allowed to leave the hospital. It was a very scary event and we were very lucky - unlike poor Reese. To this day, I will avoid anything that contains a button battery.

Thank you so much for sharing. You’ve done an important act. People listen to member’s personal relatable experiences. Readers can then share this real threat to little ones with others, friends and family.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Alberta Health Services (AHS) is warning Albertans to properly dispose of button batteries.

The small coin-like batteries are often used to power small electronic devices such as watches, cameras, calculators, hearing aids and computer games, and can be deadly when ingested.

"Provincially we've noticed a marked increase in the amount of ingestions that have occurred over the last couple of years," said Dr. Bruce Wright, an emergency physician at the Stollery Children's Hospital.

In 2018 and 2019 there were 16 and 18 reported ingestions of button batteries respectively. In 2020, the number went up to 28 and more ingestions are already on track in 2021.

"The risk is when a child swallows a button battery it actually gets stuck in the feeding tube — from the mouth into the stomach — and when that battery gets stuck in the esophagus, a chemical reaction occurs and essentially an electrical current forms and you get an actual burn to the tissue that causes tissue damage," Dr. Wright explained.
Alberta Health Services warns of children swallowing button batteries - FortSaskOnline.com

 

[GarAndTeed]

Thank you so much for sharing. You’ve done an important act. People listen to member’s personal relatable experiences. Readers can then share this real threat to little ones with others, friends and family.

Yes, thank you- I had a couple of those on my desk- I just threw them out, as I don't want my cat getting ahold of them. I'm thankful your child was ok! I never would've thought of these batteries as such a large potential hazard.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Yes, thank you- I had a couple of those on my desk- I just threw them out, as I don't want my cat getting ahold of them. I'm thankful your child was ok! I never would've thought of these batteries as such a large potential hazard.

*I’m also surprised at what I’m finding. Who knew? We have so many on hand. I have a huge vintage watch clock collection. All the miniatures and watches take the button batteries. I order the odd ones whenever I can find them. We have so many cats and dogs, I’ll def be more careful about leaving them lay on tables.


It took 19 days for Bella Rees to die. Her parents had taken her to the hospital four times. She was only 14 months old. The first time she was crying, had collapsed and was lethargic. When she breathed there was a rattly sound, she was projectile vomiting. Doctors at Victoria’s Sunshine Hospital Emergency Department said it was a virus and sent them home.

The second time she was refusing food, had a high temperature and blood pressure and black bowel movements. After a test, doctors diagnosed a urinary tract infection. The symptoms were the same the third time. Again, she was sent home.

Early morning on February 4, 2015 Allison heard Bella call out, “Mum”. Bella’s clothes and the cot felt wet. Allison switched on the light and screamed. Bella was covered in blood.

Two years earlier, and almost 2,000 kilometres to the north, Andrea Shoesmith cried with panic down a phone line to a triple 0 operator, as her daughter, Summer, collapsed on the front lawn: “Please hurry. I think she’s dying.”

Two broken families. Two mothers brought together by the worst thing that can happen: the agonised and wholly preventable death of a child. Their common enemy is small, shiny, hidden; seemingly harmless, but lethal. They are in every household in the country. They are in your house.

Allison Rees and Andrea Shoesmith decided to do something about it; comrades in arms finding their voices in grief, campaigning to the highest level. They can’t let this happen again. Not to another family.

In Australia, an estimated 20 children per week turn up at hospital emergency departments with suspected button battery ingestions. Up to two dozen children per year end up with serious, lifelong injuries.

Allison was bewildered when she found out Bella had swallowed a battery. She had no idea they could cause fatal bleeding. “If we didn’t know about this, who else doesn’t know about this?” she asks. “And also how did they not know about this on a medical scale?”
These mums want you to check remotes in your home. The batteries running them can kill


In December 2020, after years of campaigning by CHOICE, parents and other passionate advocates, Australia became the first country in the world to introduce new mandatory safety and information standards for all products containing button batteries.

This is a huge win for parents and families. It will reduce the risk of children getting their hands on button batteries in common household objects, which can cause serious injury and even death if they swallow them.

In the wake of the tragic deaths of Summer Steer and Isabella Rees from button battery related injuries, CHOICE partnered with Kidsafe QLD and The Parenthood in 2016 to launch a petition calling on the government to introduce stricter safety standards for all products containing button batteries.

"Button batteries are harmful, commonplace items found in kitchen scales, thermometers, novelty toys and accessories, and can cause serious and irreversible injury or death when swallowed by children," says CHOICE product safety campaigner Amy Pereira.

*There is so very much more in this article. It’s heartbreaking. Why is this so highly reported in Australia? I hope I find similar programs for the US. Thankful to our Texas mom who took a stand. It’s worth a read. It could save a life to spread the message. The written word is so powerful.
CHOICE helped win fight to improve button battery safety

 

[GarAndTeed]

*I’m also surprised at what I’m finding. Who knew? We have so many on hand. I have a huge vintage watch clock collection. All the miniatures and watches take the button batteries. I order the odd ones whenever I can find them. We have so many cats and dogs, I’ll def be more careful about leaving them lay on tables.


It took 19 days for Bella Rees to die. Her parents had taken her to the hospital four times. She was only 14 months old. The first time she was crying, had collapsed and was lethargic. When she breathed there was a rattly sound, she was projectile vomiting. Doctors at Victoria’s Sunshine Hospital Emergency Department said it was a virus and sent them home.

The second time she was refusing food, had a high temperature and blood pressure and black bowel movements. After a test, doctors diagnosed a urinary tract infection. The symptoms were the same the third time. Again, she was sent home.

Early morning on February 4, 2015 Allison heard Bella call out, “Mum”. Bella’s clothes and the cot felt wet. Allison switched on the light and screamed. Bella was covered in blood.

Two years earlier, and almost 2,000 kilometres to the north, Andrea Shoesmith cried with panic down a phone line to a triple 0 operator, as her daughter, Summer, collapsed on the front lawn: “Please hurry. I think she’s dying.”

Two broken families. Two mothers brought together by the worst thing that can happen: the agonised and wholly preventable death of a child. Their common enemy is small, shiny, hidden; seemingly harmless, but lethal. They are in every household in the country. They are in your house.

Allison Rees and Andrea Shoesmith decided to do something about it; comrades in arms finding their voices in grief, campaigning to the highest level. They can’t let this happen again. Not to another family.

In Australia, an estimated 20 children per week turn up at hospital emergency departments with suspected button battery ingestions. Up to two dozen children per year end up with serious, lifelong injuries.

Allison was bewildered when she found out Bella had swallowed a battery. She had no idea they could cause fatal bleeding. “If we didn’t know about this, who else doesn’t know about this?” she asks. “And also how did they not know about this on a medical scale?”
These mums want you to check remotes in your home. The batteries running them can kill


In December 2020, after years of campaigning by CHOICE, parents and other passionate advocates, Australia became the first country in the world to introduce new mandatory safety and information standards for all products containing button batteries.

This is a huge win for parents and families. It will reduce the risk of children getting their hands on button batteries in common household objects, which can cause serious injury and even death if they swallow them.

In the wake of the tragic deaths of Summer Steer and Isabella Rees from button battery related injuries, CHOICE partnered with Kidsafe QLD and The Parenthood in 2016 to launch a petition calling on the government to introduce stricter safety standards for all products containing button batteries.

"Button batteries are harmful, commonplace items found in kitchen scales, thermometers, novelty toys and accessories, and can cause serious and irreversible injury or death when swallowed by children," says CHOICE product safety campaigner Amy Pereira.

*There is so very much more in this article. It’s heartbreaking. Why is this so highly reported in Australia? I hope I find similar programs for the US. Thankful to our Texas mom who took a stand. It’s worth a read. It could save a life to spread the message. The written word is so powerful.
CHOICE helped win fight to improve button battery safety

Oh, gosh, that's so horrible...
There are so many things I didn't think about, and still don't- it's scary! For example, I keep a note on the top of the toilet seat as a reminder to always put the top down. Children and cats have drowned after slipping into toilets and even buckets of water.
I'm always grateful to have other hazards brought to my attention- Thanks @imstilla.grandma!