A mom has shared a crucial warning about popcorn to other parents after her son underwent surgery.
It all happened after what was supposed to be a fun, family movie night one weekend for Nicole and Jake Goddard from Parker, Colorado. The pair settled down to watch Mrs. Doubtfire with their three children and a bowl of popcorn when their youngest child, Nash, began to choke.
"He started making a gagging noise and [Jake] jumped up really fast to grab him," she told FOX news. "He was getting ready to do the Heimlich on him and then he took a breath."
After this, Nash's parents assumed that he was okay. But they couldn't have been more wrong. Now, Nicole has recounted the tragic series of events that went onto unfold in a viral Facebook post.
"He seemed completely fine and continued to watch the movie. The only thing we observed was a cough he developed after the episode," she wrote.
Members of the family had recently suffered from the cold, so naturally, Nicole that was all Nash was suffering from.
"Monday came and [in the evening] I noticed Nash felt warm and he was super fussy. He had a fever so I gave him Motrin and put him to bed."
Nicole spent a lot of time with her sick child, and when his breathing became labored, she sought the advice of a pediatrician who told her to immediately take him to the emergency room.
On arrival, he was given an X-Ray and a bronchoscopy. While this was happening, Nash's father, Jake, was called home from his business trip.
After examining Nash, doctors discovered that there were six pieces of undigested popcorn trapped in his lungs. His body identified the popcorn as a foreign substance, and it reacted like they were an infection. This caused inflammation that led to pneumonia.
"The second procedure was done and once again the poor guy had to be put under and rolled off to surgery," Nicole wrote.
Popcorn has been declared unsafe for children under five because their bodies haven't developed to the point where they can successfully cough up small particles should they go down the wrong tube.
"We're so thankful our little man came out ok. All of this over popcorn, which is eaten on a regular basis in our home."
At the time of writing, the post has received over 181K shares and 53K comments, some of which were about similar, heartbreaking incidents.
"My little brother passed away from a similar incident but didn't have any symptoms until it was too late. It took an autopsy to find the cause," Betty Cornutt Slaton said.
Now, after reading Nicole's warning, multiple parents took to the comments section to explain that they weren't allowing their young children to eat popcorn again.
With that in mind, this really could save lives.
