My son, 12, was minutes from death from terrifying trend that burns holes in kids’ bowels, leaving them with stoma bags

WATCHING her son doubled over in agony on the hospital bed, Hannah Amer begged doctors to act quickly to remove the metal balls that were burning through his bowel.

And the 12-year-old, from Hertfordshire, was just two hours from death when he went under the knife, as surgeons battled to save his digestive system.

Bobby's ordeal was down to a simple kids' toy – known as “fidget toys” – which have left numerous kids fighting for their lives and one eight-year-old dead.

The seemingly harmless magnetic balls have become part of a terrifying TikTok “piercing trend”; where people use the magnets to replicate facial jewellery.

However, the trend can have extremely serious consequences, with hundreds of kids rushing to emergency care accidentally ingesting them.

Once swallowed, the tiny magnetic balls, usually 3mm in size, can join together and cause significant internal damage to organs within hours.

On Monday, a one-year-old baby girl swallowed six tiny magnetic balls and almost died. Her lifesaving surgery has now left her with a stoma bag and a feeding tube.

In 2021, the NHS called for a ban on the magnets after at least 65 children were admitted to hospital for urgent surgery.

Now Hannah, and many parents like her, are backing the call as cases continue to rise, with over 400 parents taking to Facebook in the last 24 hours to debate why their children are still at such a risk.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) issued a safety alert regarding the magnets but there isn't a complete ban and children can still purchase them online.

The tiny magnets are often ball or disc shaped and they can join together and cause bowel perforation and obstruction if swallowed.

Hannah, 38, spent five days in the hospital with Bobby, after he ingested two tiny magnets.

Hannah said: “All these kids were playing with the magnetic balls, and Bobby sort of flicked it up in the air, you know, like a Malteser, and caught it in his mouth.

“But because they're so small, it just went straight down his throat.

“We went to A&E and the X-ray showed that he had one magnetic ball stuck in his chest and one in his bowel.

“The doctor said as long as one comes out first he will be fine, but he was doubled over with extreme stomach pain.

“We were there for five days and they wouldn’t let my son have any food.

“They were giving him really strong laxatives hoping the magnets would come out, but everyday they didn’t.

“In the end, I demanded a CT scan, and within hours they were rushing him into surgery, because they could see the balls had clamped together in his bowel.”

The mum-of-three was terrified after her son went in for a three-hour surgery where they pulled his bowels out and removed the magnets.

She claimed the doctor told her that if they had waited much longer to operate her son’s bowels would have perforated.

Hannah said: “The doctor came out and said the magnets were pulling all the way through the lining of the bowel.

He could have ended up with a stoma bag if his bowel perforated, so thank God I kicked up a fuss.

Hannah Amer

“Thank God I kicked off. For one, he might not have made it if it had been a couple more hours. But for two, he could have ended up with a stoma bag.”

After the life-changing incident Bobby’s school banned the small magnets and held an assembly to help raise awareness of how dangerous they can be.

Hannah added: “It is still happening though and it is crazy. Parents come to me all the time and say ‘Oh my God, a similar thing to happen to us.'

“Another mum’s daughter swallowed them, even some people’s pets have swallowed them.

“My son said his friends stuck them to the top and bottom of their eyebrows, put them on their tongue and one up their nose as well. It is just so dangerous.”;

Hannah’s son was off school for two weeks after his surgery and she explained how shocking it felt to see and hear about older children swallowing the toys.

She said: “The hospital staff asked me if he was trying to harm himself and I said he was just messing around but the balls are insanely dangerous.”;

While Bobby’s life-threatening surgery was horrific, Hannah counts herself as one of the lucky ones as the consequences could have been a lot worse.

Medical consequences

In 2022, eight-year-old Rhys Millum from Harrogate died after ingesting ten toy magnetic balls. His mother said she hopes the tragedy still raises awareness for how dangerous the tiny objects are.

According to the BBC, the young boy was “doubled over and screaming”; and “couldn’t see”; before being admitted to hospital.

The police investigated the possibility the young boy could have been participating in a “TikTok piercing challenge”;.

Professor Simon Kenny, paediatric surgeon and national clinical director for children and young people at NHS England, said: “I would urge parents to be aware of the dangers associated with magnetic toys but ultimately, the only way we can prevent future incidents is to stop these items being sold altogether.”;

Earlier this month, two-year-old Rheon Flower’s mum, Cassie, spoke to Flying Eze from her son's hospital bedside.

Cassie explained her son is lucky to be alive after swallowing 19 magnetic metal beads and undergoing a seven-hour emergency surgery.

Rheon had part of his bowel removed and now has a stoma bag after the magnetic balls joined together in a ring in his small intestine.

Katrina Phillips, chief executive of the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), told the NHS: “These small magnets look so innocuous, but if a child swallows them, the magnets stick together and cut off blood supply, causing tissue to die.

Mums now fear not enough is being done and feel the crippling number of children needing stoma bags and emergency care is on the rise.

A petition has been launched with nearly 300 parents taking matters into their own hands.

The campaign mentions a study in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition which called the ingestion of the magnets a public health emergency in the United States.

According to The Washington Post there were 2400 hospital admissions due to the magnets in America in 2023 alone.

If swallowed, they could cause irreversible damage to a child's throat and stomach in a matter of minutes and mean a lifetime of operations and procedures.

Paolo De Coppi

Hannah explained that when her 12-year-old son accidentally swallowed the tiny balls, they were silver but once removed they were green, potentially nearly poisoning his blood.

Another parent shared on Facebook that the magnets clipped to either side of her daughter’s stomach lining and she unable to eat for weeks.

Paolo De Coppi, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital said: “The danger of tiny button batteries and magnets is huge –they really can cause horror injuries.

TikTok trend

It is illegal to sell these magnets to children who are under the age of 14, but online market places and similar-style toys are slipping under the radar.

The magnetic balls are gaining recent popularity due to a TikTok “piercing trend”; where children video themselves and pretend to have facial piercings.

The trend is fuelling the number of older children who are being admitted to hospitals after ingesting the magnets, according to the NHS.

After major scares in 2021 and 2022, mums are again asking why the balls are still circulating online, with new “fidget toys”; becoming the latest way the balls are gaining traction with older children.

Consumer champion, Which? found more than 90 per cent of the toys bought through online marketplaces can’t be legally sold in the UK, with over half posing a danger to any child playing with them.

This included small magnetic balls from TikTok Shop in a fishing set.