Toddler out of ICU after toy nearly took her life

A mother's warning after toddler swallows magnetic balls

HOUSTON – A toddler is out of an intensive care unit after swallowing magnetic balls that took the 1-year-old to the edge of death. 

Her mother now has a warning about the potentially dangerous toys. 

“Is this a circle? Is this a square? We'd play with them but we kept them out of reach, and I honestly don't know how she got into them,” Lexi Kendall said.

Ava Kendall is almost 2 years old. Her mom said she is not the type to chew on strange objects, so swallowing something was not their first suspicion when she was cramping in pain.

“Flu test, strep test, they did a chest X-ray,” Kendall said. “They did the CT scan (computerized tomography) and they saw nine little magnets across her stomach just coming up. They didn't know they were magnets, but whenever I saw them in there I recognized them.”

Ava immediately underwent a four-hour surgery.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission warns of the severe dangers with similar balls, made of neodymium, a magnetic material that can perforate intestines, like it did Ava's.

“They find each other inside the body, so they connect, and whatever is between them gets connected. So, the intestines come together and they start to ... bury themselves inside the intestines,” Kendall explained.

Ava still has a long road to recovery. The infection from the magnets cut her insides. She will have to undergo physical therapy and it will be some time before she is able to eat again. Ava is still receiving nutrition through an IV tube.

“She’s off of her breathing tube,” Kendall said. “One of the doctors came and explained to us that she's really sick.”

Though Ava is out of ICU after two weeks, she is still heavily medicated and not very alert. 

For more on Ava’s story and how to help her, a Go Fund Me page has been set up in her name.   

Texas Children’s Hospital offers insight on how to prevent children from ingesting dangerous objects.