A five-year-old boy from Melbourne is lucky to be alive after swallowing 30 fridge magnets that he mistook for lollies. The incident occurred when Noah used a chair to climb onto the fridge and ingested the tiny silver balls.
His mother, Christelle Lefau, found him in severe pain, curled up on the ground. An X-ray at the hospital revealed the magnets clustered in his stomach, prompting emergency surgery that lasted six hours.
Surgeon Dr Maurizio Pacilli of Monash Children's Hospital described the case as unprecedented. 'They travel along inside the intestine and are attracted to each other, creating holes in the gut,' he said. The team repaired 10 to 12 holes and removed parts of the intestine.
Ms Lefau stated that her son could have died if not treated promptly. 'If it was less than half a day longer he would have died,' she said. Noah's father, Fiso Lefau, expressed shock that such small objects could cause so much damage.
