Unexpected twists and turns abound in life, and we never know when tragedy may strike. Brianna Florer’s family got to spend that Christmas with her for the last time because she died a day after the celebration.
No one could have predicted such a dreadful event as the death of such a young lady.
Kent Vice, her grandfather, recalls the day his granddaughter swallowed the tiny battery and died. What was intended to be one of their most memorable days became a nightmare.
“She was fine on Saturday,” Vice explained, and “It was the most wonderful Christmas I’ve ever experienced.”
Brianna had the battery in her body, and no one in the family realized it until she started vomiting blood. This alarmed the parents, so they went for a doctor to check on her, but there aren’t many medical professionals in Delaware County, where they live.
Brian and Stephanie Florer dialed 911, and the Jay ambulance arrived at a convenience shop to assess the girl’s condition. They didn’t take Briana to the hospital until she vomited “a large amount of blood” in the nearby town of Grove, Oklahoma.
They were told how the battery had been in Brianna’s system for a few days while they were there.
Doctors attempted to transport her to a different clinic in Tulsa, but the weather was severe. There were no medical helicopters available also, so Brianna was hurried into surgery instead.
Unfortunately, there was nothing that could do to save her life.
After 212 hours of surgery, she still bled, Vice said. “They believe the battery ate through her esophagus to her carotid artery.”
Batteries, if eaten, can cause serious harm to the body and even death, as in Brianna’s case.
According to the National Capital Poison Center in Washington, D.C, between 2005 and 2014, there were 11 940 cases of children ingesting batteries, 15 of which were deadly.
According to Randy Badillo of the Oklahoma Poison Control Center, “if the battery lodges in the esophagus or digestive tract, it can open and emit an alkaline material that can cause caustic or scorching injuries.”
When lithium button batteries are present in a system, electrical currents are generated, which harm the body by causing a chemical reaction that creates hydroxide.
Briana’s family is sharing her tale in the hopes of preventing similar incidents from occurring in the future.
They request from the parents to keep batteries out of reach of young children.
As parents, we must exercise extreme caution and keep a close eye on everything our children do. Batteries can find in a variety of household items, making them easily accessible to children.
