Action 9: 11-year-old boy warns others after swallowing magnetic ball

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By Jason Stoogenke

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An 11-year-old Ballantyne boy is using his scary experience with an educational magnetic ball to teach others a lesson.

Connor Parker was playing with Buckyballs, which are educational magnetic balls made of a rare metal that is stronger than most magnets.

"He was looking at it and his mouth was slightly open and it just popped off," his mother Allison Parker said.

It popped off right down his throat and he didn't have any metal in his mouth, such as braces.

Parker worried something like this would happen to her 6-year-old, but not Connor, her older child.

"I was not calm at all.  Yeah, I was scared," Connor said.

He went to the emergency room at Levine Children's Hospital, where the ball can be seen in his X-ray.

"It's scary," Allison Parker said.

It could have been even worse if he had inhaled the ball into his lung or gotten two in his body, in which case, the two could have torn through his insides to find each other.

"They can potentially attract to each other or cross the bowel wall or the other tissues in the body, and cause tissue necrosis or breakdown, as they're trying to get to one another," said Dr. Sara Steelman, emergency department medical director at Novant Health Presbyterian Children’s Hospital.

In 2014, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said 2,900 children had gone to the hospital because of magnetic balls and that many needed surgery. The agency recalled the balls. Now Buckyballs are back on the market and they come with strong warnings.

Company officials say, "Keep away from all children!" They also say, "Unlimited fun! (for grown-ups)" and "Swallowed magnets can stick to intestines causing serious injury or death."

"You don't want your child to have to be scoped or have any sort of unnecessary medical procedure or suffer just for something you thought was going to be fun and they can learn something with," Allison Parker said.

Connor didn't need surgery and the company gave his mother a full refund.

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