Queensland girl Millie’s fight for life after magnets tore through her bowel

A mother says her daughter is lucky to be alive after swallowing two high-powered magnets that tore through her bowel, triggering organ failure and leading to emergency surgery.

Millie, 3, was rushed to Bundaberg Hospital in early July after spiking a fever and becoming pale, lethargic, and unresponsive.

“She had dark circles under her eyes and couldn’t keep them open,” her mum Emily Betts told 7NEWS.

“When she started falling asleep sitting up in the bath, I just knew I had to get her to hospital.”

At the hospital, doctors initially suspected sepsis.

Millie was dehydrated, her kidneys began to fail, and her potassium levels hit a level that can cause cardiac arrest.

An X-ray showed a foreign object, but it was dismissed as low risk.

“They thought it was in the large bowel and would pass naturally,” Betts said.

“But her condition kept getting worse. I kept pushing. I said, please send us to Brisbane.”

On July 7, Millie was airlifted to Queensland Children’s Hospital.

There, scans revealed what was really going on: two magnets had attracted inside her body and punched through three layers of her small intestine.

“The surgeon told me they found the magnets a metre up from her stomach,” Betts said.

“They had to cut out part of her bowel, create a stoma and put her into an induced coma.

“She was on life support in intensive care. Seeing her like that just killed me.”

‘She would have died’

Millie was extremely lucky, Director of Burns, Trauma, Paediatric Surgery and Urology at Queensland Children’s Hospital Professor Roy Kimble said.

“Without treatment, she would have died or at least become very, very sick,” he said.

“In most parts of the world, this child would not have survived.”

Millie’s case is part of a worrying pattern, Kimble said.

“In the last five years, we’ve treated 20 children who swallowed more than one magnet,” he said.

“Of those, nine needed abdominal surgery to remove the magnets and repair their bowel.

“Six needed endoscopic procedures. Only a few passed them without intervention.”

The magnets are often swallowed separately, days apart, and later attract through internal tissue.

“They pull loops of bowel together and erode through them,” Kimble said.

“Eventually you get a perforation, peritonitis, and that can kill kids.”

Millie’s infection was severe. Nearly a litre of pus was drained from her abdomen.

She spent three days in paediatric intensive care and remains on high alert for potential relapse.

“There’s still a risk today,” Betts said.

“She was in septic shock. Her kidneys were failing. Her lungs were shutting down because of the flu. It was multiple organ failure.”

‘I still don’t know where they came from’

Millie has autism and limited speech. She couldn’t tell her family what happened, and they still don’t know where the magnets came from.

“My house is so baby-proof. I check everything all the time,” Betts said.

“We still don’t know. Daycare checked too. Nothing has been found.”

Children’s Hospital scans from Millie’s case are now being used in national medical training.

“They’re showing her scans at the paediatrics conference to help radiologists spot this earlier,” Betts said.

Kimble said most parents are unaware how dangerous these small magnets can be.

“Toddlers, they do not understand the dangers of these, and if they’re lying around they’ll put them in their mouth and swallow them.

“Kids explore. They don’t realise the dangers.”

Kimble also said some older children have swallowed magnets while pretending to have tongue piercings.

“They put a magnet above and below the tongue and they figure it’s there and swallow them. That’s something we’ve certainly seen.”

Symptoms can include abdominal pain, lethargy, fever or unexplained illness.

“If the child tells you they swallowed a magnet, take it seriously. Come to hospital and have an X-ray.

“Abdominal pain or vague symptoms — always be suspicious and see your doctor.”

‘I just wanted her back’

Millie is now home and recovering, but her mum said the trauma will stay with them forever.

“She couldn’t lift her arms. She couldn’t smile. She was so colourful and cheeky just days before. I missed her laugh so much,” Betts said through tears.

“I didn’t know if she was going to wake up. Hearing them say ‘she might not make it’ — my whole world just crumbled.”

The family has had to take time off work and remains on edge.

Millie’s healing bowel is being closely monitored and she is still at risk of infection.

“I’m still in high-alert mode,” Betts said. “I stay by her side. I don’t like leaving her.”

She is now calling for stronger warning labels and faster action when foreign objects show up on scans.

“These magnets are not harmless toys,” Betts said. “They are hidden in so many things and can destroy a child’s insides in hours

“Most families don’t realise the danger until it’s too late. We were almost one of them.”