Kelly Rose Joniec is hoping other parents take on her advise about fidget spinners after her daughter was rushed to the emergency room when she swallowed one.



Fidget spinners are the latest toy craze created to help relieve stress.It consists of a bearing in the centre of a design made from any of a variety of materials including brass, stainless steel, titanium, copper and plastic.


Fidget spinners are the latest craze.
Ms Joniec shared her story on Facebook and has had over 29,000 comments since.

She was driving her daughter Britton home from a swimming carnival when the unexpected happened.

“I heard Britton make an odd retching noise in the back seat as I was driving," Ms Joniec wrote.


Ms Joniec said she had no idea what she had swallowed. Photo: Facebook / Kelly Rose Joniec
"Looking back in the mirror, I saw her face turning red and drool pouring from her mouth – she could utter noises but looked panicked so I immediately pulled over."

“She pointed to her throat saying she’d swallowed something, so I attempted Heimlich [abdominal thrusts] but there was no resistance. She said she’d put part of her fidget spinner in her mouth to clean it and somehow swallowed it.”

When she reached a medical clinic, staff couldn’t discern where the foreign object was located – along the airway or the oesophagus so they were rushed via ambulance to Texas Children’s Hospital.


This is the size of the bearing that got lodged in Ms Joniec daughter's throat. Photos: Facebook / Kelly Rose Joniec
“The doctor was fascinated," Ms Joniec said.

An X-ray revealed the spinner’s bushing- or bearing- lodged in Britton’s oesophagus.


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The bearing is about 20mm in size where the oesophagus is only 13mm.

“The doctor was fascinated - he’d only just learned of fidget spinners that morning when he was at the mall with his son, so it was a surprise to be faced with one in a case a few hours later. He’s also an advocate for related child safety in toys, so he took a special interest in the case.




Luckily, Britton came out of the incident unscathed but it could have been worse. Photo: Facebook / Kelly Rose Joniec
“It was pretty scary there for a while”

After multiple and stressful attempts to place an IV, Britton was taken to surgery to endoscopically locate and remove the object.

“Fortunately we had a positive outcome, but it was pretty scary there for a while - not only because of the initial ingestion, but then the concern about the composition and structure of the object, and finally, the risk with general anaesthesia.”

“From this I wish to offer some word of caution to parents.

“Kids of all ages may be getting them, but not all spinners come with age-appropriate warnings. The bushings pop out easily, so if you have young kids (under 8 years old) keep in mind that these present a potential choking hazard.”