Stoke-on-Trent mum urging families to be button battery aware

A mum from Stoke-on-Trent whose daughter died after swallowing a button battery is speaking out to make sure the same doesn't happen to any other family this Christmas.

Harper-Lee Fanthorpe, 2, died after swallowing a button battery from a remote control in April 2021.

Initially, the doctors thought it was a burst tonsil, but the internal injuries pointed to the fact that she had swallowed a button battery that had burnt through her oesophagus.

At 10.17 that evening, Harper-Lee passed away in Children’s Intensive Care at the Royal Stoke Hospital.

"I didn't know the dangers of button batteries until it took my daughter's life." said Stacy-Marie, Harper-Lee's mum.

"So parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters - please just check. I've said since Harper has passed away, and I will keep saying it and saying it, the more you check, the safer your children will be.

"If you buy toys, make sure the battery compartment is screwed. And if it's loose, get rid. I wish I had just done that. I wish I knew the dangers of the bottom batteries and I didn't.

According to the Child Accident Prevention Trust, at least two children a year die as a result of swallowing lithium batteries in the UK.

"The button battery Harper had was about the size of a 10 pence piece; shiny, small - and the first thing they do was pop them in the mouth. That's what Harper did. We didn't know." Stacy-Marie told Hits Radio News.

"Not only do I have to live with the grief of button batteries, I also have to live with the emojis that I saw my little girl go through at the hospital and no parent should have to go through that.

"Just please just check everything - especially young children's toys, children's toothbrushes even Christmas cards. I also got told the other day that somebody had opened a cracker and inside the little toy there was a button battery, but hand on my heart. I never knew the dangers of button batteries until they did what they did to my little girl."

You can read more about The Harper-Lee Foundation here.

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