Amity Buchanan wakes from a coma after swallowing a button battery in Queensland
The family’s relief when the girl who swallowed a button cell wakes up from an induced coma and begins to breathe on her own
- Amity Buchanan swallowed a button cell
- She was placed in an induced coma with a feeding tube.
- Amity woke up from her coma Thursday night.
A one-year-old girl who went into an induced coma after swallowing a button cell battery woke up and is now breathing on her own.
Little Amity’s parents, Daniel Buchanan and Jemma Gultzow, feared the worst when she began vomiting and choking on Monday afternoon.
They suspected she had swallowed a Styrofoam bean and rushed her to Mackay Hospital in Queensland.
A doctor checked Amity over with a stethoscope before sending the girl home without an X-ray, and her parents led her to believe she just had a stomach virus.
When her condition worsened overnight, the family went to their GP who told them to go immediately to the emergency room where doctors eventually X-rayed the little girl and found the battery lodged in her throat.
By then, it had caused an 8cm acid burn to Amity’s throat and she was rushed to Townsville Hospital for a two-hour operation to remove it before being airlifted to Brisbane Hospital.
Amity was put into a coma and was being fed through a tube, but her parents confirmed Friday afternoon that their little girl had woken up and was breathing normally.
Amity was rushed to the hospital after she became seriously ill on Monday. She had swallowed a button cell battery that caused an 8 cm burn to her esophagus.
Her family shared a video of Amity rocking in a baby swing in her hospital room.
In another heartwarming snapshot, the one-year-old is seen fast asleep on her father’s lap.
Amity still has a feeding tube in her nose, marked “do not remove,” which will remain there for the next four to six weeks.
Buchanan said Amity opened her eyes around 6 p.m. Thursday night.
‘She’s starting to look really good right now. But she’s not out of the wars yet,” she told the Today Show on Friday morning.
“We’re just playing a wait-and-see game because there are a couple of small risks that could occur, but she’s looking good so far and moving on.”
In a moving moment, Amity’s father confirmed that his little girl had woken up from a coma.
Amity will remain in the hospital for the next several weeks as she slowly recovers.
He said that hopefully his daughter will be transferred out of the ICU on Friday.
“The doctors say that right now it’s just a waiting game,” he said.
As Amity slowly makes a recovery, her parents are furious about the treatment she received at Mackay Hospital.
“If (the doctor) had done the X-ray at that point, I would probably be happy and healthy at home right now,” Buchanan told Sunrise.
I am beyond angry. What will it take?
Amity now has a long road ahead of her and is expected to remain in Brisbane hospital for weeks.
The button battery lodged in Amity’s throat caused an 8 cm acid burn. In the image is the x-ray
Amity Buchanan was in an induced coma and is expected to remain in a feeding tube for weeks.
‘She won’t be able to eat for the next 4-6 weeks. The biggest risk is infection, so the hospital is taking all necessary precautions for our little girl,” her father wrote in an online fundraiser.
“All of this could have been prevented if he was X-rayed right away, the damage that has been done and what he is going through right now is due to neglect and being there for so long.”
Mackay Base Hospital says it is reviewing Amity’s case.
“The information provided to the hospital was that a Styrofoam bean had been swallowed, and this would not have shown up on an x-ray,” the statement read.
“We do not routinely perform medical imaging on children who have swallowed a radiolucent foreign body if their clinical presentation is normal.
“As always, we ask patients to represent us if they develop new symptoms or if their condition deteriorates.”
Mackay’s little Amity Buchanan swallowed a button cell earlier this week