‘I wish I never bought them’: Mum’s warning after son swallowed fidget spinner part

WHEN Jade turned around, her son Angus was struggling to breathe. Part of a fidget spinner she bought came loose and had lodged in his throat.

Angus Girvan with his mum Jade. Angus swallowed part of a fidget spinner last week.

THE danger of fidget spinners is being investigated due to reports of injury, the latest being a seven-year-old Sydney boy who swallowed one of the discs this week after it became dislodged from the device, flying into his mouth and down his throat.

Angus Girvan had begged for a fidget spinner for weeks, and mum Jade finally succumbed to the craze, buying one each for him and his five-year-old sister at Kmart Chatswood last Wednesday — a special treat just days before Angus’ birthday on the weekend.

Less than 24 hours later, Angus was playing with his new toy while lying in bed on Thursday night, when one of the toy’s three discs flew right into his mouth.

“My husband and I were just sitting down to dinner when all of a sudden I heard this very heavy breathing, and it was Angus,” Ms Girvan told news.com.au exclusively.

“We ran in and said ‘are you OK’ and he just held up the fidget spinner and said he swallowed it — and sure enough, there was a hole where one of the discs was.

“I went ‘oh my God’ — we just couldn’t believe it.

“I was so worried because I knew it was metallic inside but coated with a plastic casing and you just don’t know what’s in these things — a foreign object inside your body is never a good thing.”

The scared youngster was in pain, and taken to Royal North Shore Hospital where an x-ray clearly showed the disc — just smaller than a 20-cent coin and half a centimetre thick — lodged in his stomach.

The disc can clearly be seen, lodged in Angus’s stomach.

Angus was discharged from hospital three hours later, with doctors advising that if the disc didn’t pass by itself within two days, to return to emergency.

“He came home and went to bed and when he woke up the next morning he wasn’t feeling well — he said he could still feel it.

“It wasn’t very pleasant for him at all.

“But the doctors said if he wasn’t vomiting he could go to school, and I knew if he stayed home he would be thinking abut it, so I thought that going to school would keep his mind off it.”

So Angus went to Castle Cove Public School on Friday armed with 24 cupcakes to celebrate his seventh birthday the next day — both of which he marked with the disc still in his belly.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks — we were actually meant to be overseas now but had to cancel because my husband and my daughter were sick,” Ms Girvan told news.com.au.

“I’m just so thankful he’s OK.

“And I regret buying them — we were out shopping for stuff for his birthday and they were conveniently an the checkout register and my daughter said ‘oh fidget spinners please can we have one?’

“They were only $4 so I brought them, and this happened not even 48 hours later.

“He was spinning it and it just flew out into his mouth and he swallowed it.

“When I checked the spinner they pop out very easily, and the one he swallowed, the side was cracked.

“They have both gone in the bin now.”

Angus was sent to school on Friday with the fidget spinner still in his stomach.

Ms Girvan reported the incident to Kmart, who referred it to the ACCC to be investigated.

“She [the Kmart representative] was obviously concerned that it was a horrible thing to happen and she offered me a refund — I said it wasn’t about the money, I just didn’t want it to happen to another child,” she said.

“They are dangerous, and they could do real damage to kids.

“Angus was as shocked as we were when it happened and the more people that know about these dangers, the less they will buy them.

“They are a cheap and easy toy that appeal to both kids and adults and that gives it a very dangerous market.

“We are just a lucky it didn’t go down his windpipe, we could have been in a very different position.”

Fellow Sydney mum Jami Leigh also had a scare when two LED lights and button batteries recently flew out of her child’s fidget spinner, landing on her six-month-old twins play mat, within arm’s reach of her baby girls.

“My mum had bought my five and three year olds a fidget spinner each and they were about $10 but very cheaply made with little blue and red LED lights in them,” Ms Leigh, of Cherrybrook said.

One of the LED lights popped out of Jami Leigh’s fidget spinner.

The Leigh twins were within arms reach of the dangerous toy.

“It must have been dropped and the little LED lights with the button batteries attached had flung out and was on my twin’s play mat.

“I was cooking dinner and I saw the blue and red lights flashing on the play mat where my twins were playing so I ran over and grabbed it and all the fidget spinner bits and tossed it in the bin.

“The button batteries weren’t even 10cm away from my twins.

“After that I had to grill my older girls to make sure they understood how dangerous the button batteries are.”

A spokesman for NSW Fair Trading told news.com.au the authority was aware of recent reports of injuries involving fidget spinners and was conducting preliminary safety assessments of the products.

“Fair Trading is particularly concerned about designs with internal button batteries which are a choking hazard and designs with star or blade like spinners that pose laceration and puncture risks,” the spokesman said.

“Fair Trading is working closely with the ACCC and other state and territory product safety regulators to ensure a consistent national approach.

“Fidget spinners are not suitable for children under three years of age.

“Parents should keep an eye on their children when using these toys and regularly check them for loose parts.”

If anyone has purchased an unsafe toy, they can return the toy to the store for a refund or dispose of the toy immediately. Complaints can be made to NSW Fair Trading on 133220.

Originally published as ‘I wish I never bought them’: Mum’s warning after son swallowed fidget spinner part