Florida Girl, 3, Who Swallowed Thumbtack At Daycare And Began Gasping For Air, Bleeding From Mouth, Is In Serious Condition
Florida daycare workers at Kingdom Christian Academy were stunned to uncover three-year-old Honesty Eads lying on the floor, gasping for air, with blood dripping from her mouth. Unbeknownst to them, the toddler had swallowed a thumbtack. According to Fox 35 Orlando, just before 9 a.m. on Monday, daycare worker Maria C. Ortiz stated that, as she was on the west side of the classroom feeding the children breakfast, one of the children approached her and stated that Eads “looked like a vampire.”
As Ortiz walked to the other side of the classroom to check on Eads, she found her laying on the floor, gasping for air and bleeding from her mouth. She immediately screamed for help, and that’s when Brenda Osgood, another daycare worker who was also in the classroom during the time of the incident, ran to Eads’ aide and began performing CPR, but it was to no avail. Osgood immediately called emergency services, who told her over the phone to stop CPR and check her throat to see if there was an object blocking her airway. But the daycare worker was unable to do so as there was a significant amount of blood coming from the toddler’s mouth.
A third daycare worker, Gwendolyn Roundtree, who was in the classroom at the time of the incident, told reporters that, as Osgood was performing CPR, she heard Eads say something, but “it was difficult to understand” her. The toddler’s six-year-old brother was also in the classroom and ran across the room to be by his sisters’ side. But as his sister continued to gush out more blood, Roundtree took the children to an adjacent classroom where they wouldn’t be able to witness the horrifying scene.
When paramedics arrived at Kingdom Christian Academy, a 24-hour daycare at 519 SW 10th St., Suite No. 200, the toddler was immediately rushed to Munroe Regional Medical Center, where doctors inserted a breathing tube down the toddler’s throat, but it wasn’t a success, according to Ocala. The physician soon discovered that there was an object blocking the toddler’s airway – a yellow thumbtack. After Eads’ airway was cleared, she was immediately flown to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville for further treatment.
After the toddler was hospitalized for swallowing a thumbtack at a daycare that blocked her airway, causing her to stop breathing and to bleed from her mouth, her teachers were questioned. They told Ocala police officials that they never saw any thumbtacks or sharp objects on the classroom floor or anywhere that the children could access. At this present time, it is unclear how the toddler retrieved the thumbtack and somehow managed to swallow the object, but Eads’ parents, as well as the Department of Children and Families, were notified after the incident, and they will be “conducting their own investigation.”
As of Tuesday, the toddler is still hospitalized and listed in serious condition. Investigators attempted to speak with the principal at Kingdom Christian Academy, Kathryn Crowell, but it was all in vain, as she informed the officers that she was not present during the time of the incident, and as a result could not give a statement.
On Kingdom Christian Academy’s website, it states that they are a “Christ-centered school that educates the entire family, offering programs for preschool students all the way to an adult education program. We want to give families power to change their lives by first letting them know how much God loves them, and then by providing a quality education to better their lives.”
This is a developing story.
[Images via Shutterstock]
