“It burned a hole in her esophagus,” the child's mother said
Credit: gofundme
NEED TO KNOW
- A young child has been in a medically-induced coma for two weeks after swallowing a button battery
- Her parents told a local news station they had never heard of button batteries before Camila Romero, 4, ingested one
- “I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” her father said, while warning others
A 4-year-old girl in California is in a coma after ingesting a button battery, her parents said.
“Something so small caused something so big,” Cassandra Tafolla, the mother of Camila Romero, tearfully said in a joint interview with KTLA alongside the child’s father, Hugo Romero, on Thursday, March 19.
Camila’s parents said they’d never heard of button batteries and don’t know how their child got one, but it has since burned a hole through the 4-year-old’s esophagus, leaving her in a medically induced coma at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital for the past two weeks.
Credit: gofundme
“It burned a hole in her esophagus,” Tafolla said. “Where it burned a hole is really close to where our lungs part. From the hole to her lungs, it’s only about an eighth of an inch from each other.”
When she and Romero first brought Camila to the hospital, doctors thought the child’s symptoms were consistent with a virus due to the 4-year-old arriving with a fever that lasted a week.
Things quickly changed when Tafolla asked if the illness could be pneumonia and requested an X-ray, which revealed the small button battery in her throat.
Doctors have removed the button battery, but significant damage has already been done.
According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, when swallowed, the electric current in lithium “button” batteries can be activated by saliva, causing “a chemical reaction that can severely burn the esophagus in as little as two hours.”
The batteries can be found in common household items such as remote controls, toys, musical greeting cards, calculators, watches and other electronics.
“I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Romero told the local news station. “But I’ve just been trying to stay strong.”
Camila will still need to undergo another surgery to close the hole in her chest from her initial operation.
A GoFundMe has been established for the “bright” and “loving” 4-year-old who is “fighting for her life.”
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“At this time, the outcome remains uncertain. What we do know is that Camila needs every bit of support, strength, and prayer we can give her,” Andre Delgado, who created the fundraiser, wrote.
The money raised will go towards “Ongoing care and recovery… whatever that may look like.”
“No parent should have to choose between being present for their child and worrying about financial stress during a crisis like this,” Delgado said. “Camila is strong… but she needs us.”
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