Toddler 'left vomiting black gunk' after swallowing a BATTERY meant for her father's watch that burned through her oesophagus and saw her spend a week in intensive care

A toddler who swallowed a battery spent a week in intensive care after the acid burnt through her oesophagus and left her vomiting black gunk.

Abigayle Galle, now two, put the battery in her mouth last July after her father Jeff Galle, 26, bought it for his watch.

The sanitation worker watched in horror as the then 15-month-old retched and screamed out in pain, with him being oblivious as to what had just happened.

The youngster was rushed to A&E, where an X-ray revealed she had swallowed a circular object, which doctors initially believed to be a coin.

Abigayle was airlifted to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, where medics discovered the lodged object was actually a battery and needed removing immediately.

The battery was taken out, and the youngster, of Abilene, Texas, spent two-and-a-half weeks on a feeding tube. Now home, she still suffers from breathing and digestive difficulties.

Abigayle's mother Lacey Walters, who is a stay-at-home mother-of-four, said: 'Abigayle's dad had gotten a new battery for his watch but it ended up being the wrong size.

'He left it on his computer desk where Abigayle got her hands on it. Jeff was watching her while I was out trying to run some errands.

'He called me up, and said she was crying and trying to throw up.

'I hurried home straight away and I watched her for ten minutes. Her voice was growing so faint and weak. It was clear she was hurting.'

Abigayle was initially taken to Hendrick Medical Center's A&E department on the north side of Abilene, where the family waited for an hour to be seen, according to their GoFundMe page. This was set up to cover travel costs to the hospital.

Growing impatient, the youngster's grandmother Missty George, 45, a healthcare worker, rushed Abigayle to 'the south side ER', where she was seen immediately.

'She was taken in for an X-ray and it looked like she had a quarter stuck in her throat,' Ms Walters said. 'It was lodged in her airway, which was making it difficult to breathe.

'She started throwing up and it was terrifying. It was black.'

After doctors quickly looked her over, Abigayle was airlifted to Cook Children's Medical Center, which is a two hour drive from the family's home.

Medics then discovered the 'coin' was in fact a battery and Abigayle had emergency surgery at 4.30am.

'The doctor told us it had to come out immediately,' Ms Walters said.

'She was rushed into surgery. We didn't get to see her before surgery because it was so urgent. I was so worried.'

Fortunately, the battery's acid had not burnt completely through Abigayle's oesophagus wall. But the toddler still had to be fitted with a feeding tube until her gullet healed.

'They said if the battery had been in there any longer it would have been catastrophic,' Ms Walters said.

'Sometimes when she sleeps she makes these scary gasping noises, and she has problems with choking and swallowing.

'We cut up Abigayle's food really finely now because she has trouble.'

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 3,500 incidents of button battery ingestion are reported to US poison control centers each year.

Ms Walters is urging other parents to be extremely cautious with where they leave batteries around the house.

'I've become extremely protective and I am overly careful about everything now,' she said. 'I could have never imagined a little battery could cause so much damage.

'I would urge other parents to be extremely careful with batteries. They are in everything.'

Source: The Daily Mail

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