A mother's well-intentioned effort to safeguard her children using Apple AirTags took an alarming turn when her four-year-old daughter, Lily Grace, accidentally swallowed a button battery from one of the tracking devices. Lisa Marie, who purchased the AirTags for a family trip to Disneyland, found herself in a 'terrified' state after the incident, highlighting the unforeseen dangers that can lurk within everyday objects.

The ordeal began after the family's holiday to Anaheim, California, where the AirTags had stopped working. Lisa stored them in her car's glovebox with the intention of getting them repaired. However, on May 23, while in the car, Lily Grace made a 'gulping sound,' leading her mother to the horrifying realization that the child had ingested a coin-sized button battery. The family, originally from the US but now residing in Vancouver Island, Canada, immediately rushed Lily to the hospital.

An X-ray scan at the hospital confirmed that the battery had already made its way into Lily's bowel. What followed was an agonizing four-day wait for the battery to pass naturally. During this period, the family endured immense stress, with Lily's three siblings reportedly fearing for her life. Lisa Marie described the emotional toll, recalling moments of despair and tears on the hospital bathroom floor, and her husband Markus preparing for a potential surgery that ultimately wasn't needed as the battery was already moving through the bowel.

Button batteries pose severe risks, capable of causing significant damage to the lining of a child's oesophagus or bowel, sometimes burning through the tissue completely to form a hole. The tragic death of two-year-old Johnathan Huff in 2020, who succumbed after swallowing remote control batteries that burned his internal organs, underscores the extreme danger. Fortunately, Lily Grace was spared from lasting side effects and passed the battery without complication, despite Lisa's desperate attempts to aid its passage with laxatives, trampolines, and other methods.

The irony of the situation was not lost on Lisa, who stated, "The things that I thought would keep my kids safe are actually what caused harm." She revealed that she had repeatedly warned her children about the dangers of button batteries over the years, with the latest warning issued just two weeks prior to the incident. This personal experience has compelled the stay-at-home mum to issue a fervent plea to other parents: "If you have any toys that have button batteries in them then throw them out, get rid of them." She emphasized the challenge of managing gifts containing such batteries and urged parents to "educate your kids" and "be over cautious" because "you're never safe."