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4-year-old loses parts of his colon, intestines after swallowing magnetic toys

Posted at 3:37 PM, Dec 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-29 15:37:56-05

**Embargo: Milwaukee, WI**
A four-year-old boy had to have part of his colon and intestines removed because he ingested parts of a popular magnetic toy.

APPLETON, Wis. – A 4-year-old boy is spending the holidays in the hospital after a Christmas present sent him into surgery.

The boy had to have part of his colon and intestines removed because he ingested parts of a popular magnetic toy.

Beck White got sick right around Christmas. His mother, Jennifer White, said at first she thought her son had the flu.

“He started to vomit a very dark color. It looked like coffee grounds. At that point I knew something was very wrong,” White said.

White and her husband rushed their son to the local hospital in Appleton before he was sent to a children’s hospital for surgery. They say an X-ray showed Beck had swallowed the magnets inside his toy.

“He had swallowed 13 of them,” White said. “He snapped them right open and started to ingest them. And of course we had no idea.”

Once the magnet were inside him, Beck’s mom said they started to cut holes in his intestines.

“When he individually ingested them, they were doing what magnets do and trying to get to each other through his intestines. And it created holes in the lining, so they had to fix those,” White said.

His mom said Beck is autistic, so they are usually very careful with his toys. But she says now she will not bring any toys with small magnets into their home.

“I really thought these were safe. Absolutely thought he would be OK. If I had an inkling that this would have happen I would have just got rid of them,” White said.