A Two-year-old Boy Ate An Almond Five Months Ago And Today He Cannot Move His Body

This is one of those stories that calls out to all parents to be more aware of their young children. David, a boy of only two years old, ate an almond 5 months ago and, due to an accident with it, is today in serious health. 

José Domingo Cruz and Amparo Alba, parents of the minor, share this experience  so that something like this does not happen again with any other minor.  His statements were compiled by the newspaper El Mundo , who have been in charge of echoing them so that they can find help and alert other people.

The history…

It all started five months ago. In the home of the Cruz Alba family, the feast of the Virgen del Remedio, Patron Saint of Petrés (Valencia, Spain) was being celebrated. That day there was grilled meat in the oven and other dishes that they would enjoy later.

It was in one of those acts that are usually ignored when little David took an almond that was among the pecking things that were made for the occasion.

The boy popped it into his mouth and, as usual, sat on the couch watching cartoons while the adults continued their work in the kitchen. He coughed a couple of times, but no one gave it much thought. 

What would be the beginning of a great nightmare began to manifest a week later, just when David presented a fever that reached 40ºC. Upon realizing this, his parents immediately took him to the pediatrician at the Elda municipality hospital, almost 182 kilometers away, and he told them that it could be because his teeth were coming out.

The prescribed medications did not reduce his fever and, days later, on October 18, the boy was taken to the emergency room because it was suspected that he had early pneumonia.

However, a couple of days later he was sent home because doctors found nothing abnormal. The fact is that the child’s health continued to deteriorate and the parents had less and less response from the doctors.

Read: High fever in children: how to act?

The diagnosis took …

One day, trying to find an explanation, David’s parents remembered the episode with the almond and began to suspect that what happened to their son could have something to do with it. Then they told the doctors about it.

After learning of this fact, the doctors sent them to the Alicante Hospital on January 11, where they kept David under observation for 4 days and then performed a bronchoscopy.

David had a flexible tube inserted through his larynx to identify and remove the piece of almond that, apparently, had already been embedded in his lung for three months.

The problem appeared when the tube spread the pus that had collected in the lung, which caused a cardiac arrest. Doctors took about 28 minutes to revive him and induced him into a coma to have a chance to stabilize him.

The damage was severe …

Twelve days after the complication, David woke up without his lung infected, but with severe neuronal damage due to cardiac arrest. You can open your eyes, but you can’t see. His body is immobile, he cannot eat, and he cannot speak.

For the parents of the little one, the state of health of their son is due to medical negligence, since the doctors did not carry out previous tests to know to what extent it was convenient to extract the piece of almond.

Pediatricians warn that under no circumstances is it recommended to give children under five years of age any type of dried fruit, as there is a high risk of suffocation. Likewise, they point out that about 80% of choking cases in minors are related to this type of food.

Amparo and José Domingo do not believe that this is a simple accident and demand justice. Meanwhile, many people have decided to support them and in just two weeks they have raised 10,000 euros for the treatments.