18-month-old Amélie Adolphe of Red Deer is shown here in recovery at Stollery Children's Hospital after swallowing a button battery. (Supplied)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

teachable experience

Red Deer toddler recovering in hospital after swallowing battery

May 15, 2020 | 12:21 PM

A Red Deer family is thanking their faith and the community for having their back after an incredibly traumatizing experience that nearly killed their 18-month-old daughter.

The culprit: a button battery lodged high up the toddler’s esophagus; and the family wants it to be a teachable moment for other parents that accidents can happen.

On April 9, Amélie Adolphe, who was playing on the floor, keeled over and began bleeding from the nose. Then, having called 911 and to her neighbours for help, Amélie’s mother Leslie eventually found herself first at Red Deer Regional Hospital.

After an assessment, mother, daughter, and father Adolphe were transferred to Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton.

“Within 10 to 15 minutes of arrival at the Stollery, she flatlined twice. They were able to resuscitate her and she was quickly rushed into the operating room that very night,” Leslie Bangamba recalls. “People are not frequenting emergency rooms for trivial matters right now, and I strongly believe that aided in Amélie being attended to quickly and her life being saved as time was truly of the essence.”

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Amélie, who loves to dance and play with her two older brothers, remains in treatment at the Stollery, but is recovering well. Her injuries at the onset included rupturing of the esophagus, trachea, aorta, and carotid left artery. She also suffered a stroke, and is now primarily being fed via a gastrointestinal tube.

Shockingly, Bangamba says doctors told her the battery was likely not swallowed by Amélie that day, and that in the meantime, acid leaked into her body while she ate and slept.

An x-ray of Amélie shows a button battery lodged high in her esophagus. Doctors tell the family it was likely there for days. (Supplied)

The family has since spent their time at a nearby AirBnB because Ronald McDonald House is not accepting new families during the pandemic. In addition to gift cards for groceries and gas, they could have taken discounts at hotels close by, but wanted full control of who was coming in and out of the room.

“I would like parents, caregivers, grandparents, and basically anybody who cares about a young child in their life to be aware of the potential fatal damage that the ingestion of a button battery can cause,” she says. “I am well aware of the dangers of batteries and that they are a choking hazard, but what’s extremely traumatizing in our daughter’s situation is that she never choked.”

Bangamba says she will be reaching out to battery companies in hopes of discussing the way their warnings are worded.

Asked if there are any other positives that can come from this situation, Amélie’s mother points to the importance of the health care system and the people who work in it.

“They are vital to the strength of a community and it’s imperative that they be respected as such, not just during a pandemic, but every day,” she says. “Another positive is the amount of gratitude we have towards everyone who has sent an encouraging word and shared our story to educate others. We know this was a freak accident that could happen to anyone.”

Friends of the family — Cynthia Pottinger and Grace Mahary — recently started a GoFundMe to help the family. As of May 15, it’s raised nearly $11,000.