Girl Swallows 30 Magnets, Steel Balls
Toy's Parts "Looked Like Candy" To Her; They Rip 8 Holes In Her Intestines; "Lucky To Be Alive"
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Haley and Jason Lents on The Early Show Monday (CBS/EARLY SHOW)
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X-rays of Haley Lents show the toy parts she consumed (CBS/EARLY SHOW)
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Play CBS Video Video Girl Swallows 30 Magnets Eight-year-old Haley Lents swallowed 30 magnetic toys that she mistook for candy and lived to tell about it. Maggie Rodriguez speaks with Haley and her father about their ordeal.
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Interactive Toying With Danger A look at some of the latest toy recalls and tips for playing it safe
Haley Lents told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Monday she ingested the ten magnets and 20 steel balls because they "looked like candy."
Haley's father, Jason Lents, told CBS News he "really" doesn't understand how Haley could have consumed the parts, because she "gets A's and B's, and we taught her not to do stuff like this."
Jason says doctors told him Haley is lucky to be alive. She spent two weeks in the hospital.
He says he and his wife were in the same room as Haley in their Huntingburg home when she consumed the items, and they didn't even realize it. He says they rushed Haley to the hospital two days later when she began experiencing pain so severe she could barely stand up.
The parts came from a toy called Magnetix, made by Mega Brands, which issued a statement about the incident: ""Mega Brands was saddened to learn that a child sustained injury from ingesting a large number of toy parts, some of which apparently contained magnets. While we have not been able to confirm whether the toy involved was a MEGA Brands product, it is clear this was a highly unusual and isolated situation and is not indicative of any problem with Mega Brands' magnetic construction toys currently on the market. In general, if a child swallows 30 pieces of any toy, it is likely that it will result in harm regardless of the toy in question."
Haley told Rodriguez she wants other kids to know they shouldn't eat toy parts.
Jason also wants to get the word out. He pointed out to Rodriguez that, "These are high intensity magnets. There are so many parents out there that have no idea that these toys -- it just takes two magnets to kill someone. ... And because they are so easy to swallow ... (Mega Brands hasn't) done enough. Now, Mega ... has said that, coming out in July of '08, next month, that they have a completely redesigned magnetic set that contains no magnetic parts that can be swallowed. ... They obviously feel that there's an issue."
To see the complete interview of Haley and Jason Lents, click on the video below.
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Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.





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See all 224 CommentsPlease sign petition to get rid of radical...
www.thepetitionsite.com/1/removable-of-f
ather-michael-pfleger
Please sign the petition to get "Father" Pfleger removed permanently. He is a disgrace to the Catholic church.
That''s what makes this story so unbelieveable.
If you catch your child doing something this stupid,
(and by "stupid" I mean Uncommon & UNUSUAL), Spanking a child for something like this would be pointless.
I recommend putting them on a special "TimeOut" to teach them a lesson, just stick them to the door of the Refridge'' for a while, it''ll teach them a good lesson and for the Parent..
....well..HEY, FREE FRIDGE MAGNET !
But I got to tell you it sure did look to me like he was trying to place the the blame squarely on anyone else but he or his wife.
I can say my kids weren''t perfect. I got an 18 year old that hit a tree with a wooden baseball bat and it bounced off and split him open over his eye (16 stitches)just 2 months ago (dumb teenager). He also once swallowed a marble at 4 yrs old.
My 2 girls (17 and 22) have also gotten into similar mischief when they were young (minus the baseball bat incident).
But nothing to the extent of this. As a parent you have to be vigilant at all times. With both in the same room the likelyhood of something like that happening should have been slim to none.
But I don''t know, I''ve only been a parent for 22 years.
[Posted by bbbirk at 02:18 PM : Jun 04, 2008]
thanks for the response. there was a poster on this thread that had a reference to a condition that has this behaviour as one of it''s symptom (or it was ''the'' symptom). it was called ''pica''.
no telling if this is related to this girls issue ... but it might be worth mentioning to the family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)
(Posted by TeacherMan7 at 03:12 PM : Jun 03, 2008)
I am just sick of people making fun of her because she is different. Good lord, the kid is 8, leave her alone already. How would you all feel if someone was calling your 8 year old retarded?
[Posted by bbbirk at 01:13 PM : Jun 04, 2008]
since you know the family ... the big question that you may be able to answer is how/why the girl ended up eating 30 small items that were clearly not candy.
the best way to make sure that it doesn''t happen to another''s child is to know how she managed to get into that situation in the first place.
Flangesqueal- I don''t know what makes you an expert on Indiana, but we are not anything like what you have said.
gopsoccermom- Daycare is not the problem with society today. Working moms are not the problem with society, it''s idiots like you that want to blame someone else. I work full time and my kids are loved by their caregiver.
My point is that none of you know this family and what they have went through. They are not after money, they just want to make sure this doesn''t happen to anyone elses child. But, I guess all your kids are perfect and would never do this anyway, right? Keep lying to yourselves.
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