magnets
Jade Small
Jade Small
December 8, 2023 ·  3 min read

Boy Undergoes Surgery After Swallowing 54 Magnets To See If He’d Become Magnetic

Rhiley Morrison is aged twelve, and he lives in the UK. Like most kids his age, he is a curious boy. Evidently, he wanted to know how to become magnetic and get metal objects to stick to him. One has to admire his questioning young mind, but when a boy swallows 54 magnets in an effort to become magnetic, one is forced to question his method. 

Boy swallows 54 magnets

Rhiley reported that he wanted to see if he could get metal to stick to him and what it would look like when it comes out the other side. Basically, on the first of January, he swallowed his first course of magnets. Additionally, Rhiley swallowed the second load of magnets on January fourth. Only four days later he realized that he could not pass them and told his mother, Paige Ward, that he had swallowed them by accident. 

Straightaway, Paige took Rhiley to the hospital and had doctors perform an x-ray, and the results we shocking, to say the least. Afterward, it was revealed that the boy swallowed 54 magnetic balls. They were lodged in his stomach and bowel; needless to say, doctors were worried the magnets would damage his tissues or vital organs. The surgery took over six hours to complete.

Paige reported that she was speechless when she heard the number he had swallowed. She said that the doctors thought it might have been 25-30 based on the results of the x-ray, but he came out of surgery having recovered 54. Surprisingly, the boy swallowed 54 magnets! Obviously, she could not understand how or why he would do such a thing. She later added that Rhiley is very interested in science and is always doing experiments, and she loves it but will be keeping a closer eye on him from now on.[1]

Children have been known to swallow some strange objects. Here is a list of some of the strangest things.

Spongebob Keychain – A 16-month-old boy from Saudi Arabia got a SpongeBob SquarePants stuck in his esophagus. The doctor reported that he was amazed at the detail he could see, from Spongebobs freckles to his shoes.

Screwdriver – A two-year-old baby girl got her hands on a 3.5-inch screwdriver used for tightening eyeglasses. The screwdriver took over an hour to remove.

LED light – In 2005 Eli Lambert from Maryland wanted to know if the small LED light he had would shine through his cheek. And, it did. It was also visible in his throat as he swallowed it 

Wedding ring – A young couple from Seattle found that one of their rings was missing. Luckily for them, they decided to x-ray their 14-month-old and found the diamond in their babies stomach

Feather – 7-month-old Mya from Kansas was taken to hospital after swallowing a feather that caused a really bad reaction and swelling in her cheek and neck. Doctors guess that she may have inhaled it and the got lodged in her throat. 

It doesn’t end there!

Hip-hop grill – 7-year-old Bobby from Florida swallowed his gift of hip-hop grills that his mother had gotten for him from a flea market. He was taken to the hospital, but the doctors decided to let him pass it naturally.

Pen – A girl from Montreal swallowed a six-inch pen in 2011 and it got stuck in her esophagus. The doctor even reported that this was not the first time they had seen something like this.

Magnets – The story above, boy swallows 54 magnets, is not the first! In 2008 an 8-year-old swallowed 30 magnetic balls that caused tears in her intestinal lining that looked like gunshot wounds.

Rubber duck whistle –  7-year-old Hector accidentally got the squeaker stuck in his throat at school. His teacher scolded him as she thought he was making that noise intentionally. An x-ray revealed that it had traveled to an artery in his lung and took 30 minutes to remove.

Banned Substances –  In January there were multiple reports of children getting their hands on banned substances. An 8-year-old eat a weed cookie, a one-year-old swallowed a PCP cigarette. In another case, a ten-month-old swallowed a hand full of painkillers![2]

Keep Reading: ‘Your kids do not come first.’ — Man Thinks Teaching Kids They’re ‘the Center of the Universe’ Does Not Turn Out Well

Sources:

  1. Boy swallows 54 magnetic balls to see if he turns ‘magnetic’, undergoes live-saving surgery.” Times Now News. February 09, 2021.
  2. 10 of the craziest items kids have swallowed — and lived to tell about.” NY Daily News. February 17, 2016.