The mother of a toddler who swallowed a button battery and became seriously ill has sent a desperate message to other parents.
One-year-old Amity Buchanan was rushed to Mackay Base Hospital on Monday after she began vomiting and choking out of the blue.
“We were waiting and waiting and waiting,” her mother Jemma Gultzow told Sunrise on Thursday.
When a doctor finally saw the toddler, the family claims they checked Amity with a stethoscope and said she was fine to go home because “they were busy”.
Her parents were beside themselves when Amity’s condition only worsened.
Asked how she is coping after the ordeal, her mother said: “I don’t even really know how to answer that question.”
After an anxious night without answers, the family went to their local GP who told them to go straight to the emergency room and demand an X-ray.
They returned and were devastated to find they were faced with another long wait.
“We kept having to fight and fight for her to have any type of X-ray or care,” Ms Gultzow told 7 News.
When they finally did, the problem was clear as day – a round circle the size of a coin lodged inside Amity’s oesophagus.
Now they have a message for parents stuck in the same cycle of helplessness and trying to get care for their child.
“Just trust it and do not be scared to fight for your child,” Ms Gultzow said.
“It does not matter, just use your instincts to give your child the best you possibly can.”
The one-year-old was transported to Townsville for emergency surgery to remove the battery on Tuesday, but it is understood she has an 8cm acid burn in her throat.
It has been a long four days for the family, with Amity flown again to Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
She has been placed in an induced coma to help her airways heal but is in a stable condition.
This is not the couple’s first complaint about Mackay Base Hospital. Ms Gultzow spoke with 7 News over a year ago claiming the hospital failed to provide her with necessary information during her pregnancy.
NCA NewsWire has contacted Mackay Base Hospital for comment.
