Any parent can attest to how frightening it may be to safeguard their children from basic threats. A young child may feel danger in a range of environments, including furniture, food, and the environment.

A mother’s worst nightmare came true in Portland, Maine, when her infant daughter was hurt by an apparently benign item in their home.
Felicia Mitchell is raising four wonderful children, three boys and Kennedy Jane, a 9-month-old girl. Kennedy Jane inhaled a water bead late in October, and she is still fighting for her life today.

One of the many popular sensory-based toys nowadays are water beads, which can be used safely provided a child uses them under adult supervision. They enlarge when they come into touch with water and are roughly the size of a stone.

Unfortunately, that is precisely why Kennedy Jane swallowing it was so risky. The bead grew to half an inch after being swallowed, finally entering her intestines and rupturing them.

Her mother was unaware of her distress until she stopped feeding normally, as babies are still unable to completely express it.

Mitchell told WMTW that “she went two days without eating anything.” She had not even been taken off the stretcher when we arrived at Portland Hospital where she began throwing up bile.

“The bead obstructed her small intestine, causing it to enlarge so much that it seeped into her body, resulting in sepsis and an infection,” the child’s mother explained. She had three procedures this week. Her heart was beating, her kidneys were hurting, and her lungs were working hard.

In the meantime, a family member set up a GoFundMe account to pay the family’s bills, including Kennedy’s care in the pediatric intensive care unit and continuing to provide for her three brothers.

Kennedy Jane has been in the hospital since October 31, although there are signs that she is improving. Her surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, but her body is still fighting a variety of viruses.

Her mother had no idea that something so simple could be so dangerous. The item is undeniably a choking hazard, as stated on the warning label, but Mitchell had no idea it would have such a negative impact on her daughter’s organs.

According to Mitchell, parents are unable to make an informed selection before purchase. “I never would have purchased these and taken them into my home if I had seen ‘toxic if consumed, can cause obstruction’.”

Kennedy Jane’s mother has begun to advocate for clearer warnings on water beads in order to ensure that what happened to her daughter does not happen to anyone else. She elaborates:

I simply hope that people think positively of my daughter and pray for her to get through this.