Silke Jasso
Kelly Rose Joniec’s 10-year-old daughter Britton is pretty typical. She’s on the local swim team and, like a lot of other youngsters, is into a new fad — the fidget spinner. Fidget spinners are twirling devices, sort of like a handheld top, that were designed to help easily-distracted students concentrate. Unfortunately, many teachers say they’ve ended up causing more distractions than they’re worth.
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And Kelly recently discovered that the plastic-and-metal devices can be dangerous as well. The Texas mother wrote on Facebook Monday night that she was on the way home from a swim meet with Britton when she heard her daughter choking in the back seat. Kelly says she “saw Britton’s face turning red and drool pouring from her mouth […] she said she’d put part of her fidget spinner in her mouth to clean it and somehow swallowed it.”
After unsuccessful Heimlich attempts, Kelly took Britton to an urgent care but doctors couldn’t locate the missing piece and called an ambulance, bound for Texas Children’s hospital. She says that an x-ray showed the piece of the device lodged in Britton’s esophagus. Britton was rushed to surgery and thankfully, the device was removed.
Joniec wrote that she hopes to “offer some caution to parents […] not all fidget spinners come with age-appropriate warnings. The brushings pop out easily.” She also praised the care that her daughter received at the Texas Children’s Hospital saying, the “staff was great and the facility is very nice.”
