After her young daughter became trapped behind a portable radiator while playing, her mum has shared shocking images of the burns on her little body as a warning to other parents.
More: Identifying and treating burns
Natasha Davey wants to highlight dangers that exist within the home, following 2-year-old Bella’s horrific ordeal. The toddler was staying at her dad’s house with her brother, Curtis, 9, and sister, Rebecca, 3, when she got stuck behind the radiator, reported The Sun.
Davey was at her boyfriend’s house at the time and revealed that she “woke up to find 10 missed calls from [her] girls’ dad, saying Bella had been burned.” By the time she arrived at her ex-partner’s home, Bella was being treated by paramedics.
The accident happened in January, and Davey has decided to make photos of Bella’s injuries public, both as a warning and to help raise money for the burns unit that treated her at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Warning: you may find these images upsetting.
Toddler sustains #burns after becoming stuck behind radiator https://t.co/Fa3uHAdwOxpic.twitter.com/TzuWvB0rYA
— Changing Faces (@FaceEquality) March 20, 2016
More: Doctors save toddler who suffered scary ‘internal decapitation’ in accident
According to Bella’s dad, there had been a leak in the bedroom the tot was sleeping in, and he had plugged in a portable radiator to help dry it out.
“It was at the foot of the bed, and there was a gap between the bed and radiator that Bella had got into,” revealed Davey. “My ex was in the kitchen and the girls’ bedroom door was closed, so he didn’t know what was happening until he heard screaming. We have no idea what happened in the bedroom — if she’d fallen off her bed and landed in the gap or climbed down and then got burnt.”
Bella sustained second-degree burns covering 10 percent of her body, including her back, buttocks, elbows and left calf. Doctors performed a skin graft, taking skin from her thigh to cover the wounds.
After eight days in the hospital, during which time Bella was taken into theatre four times to clean her burns, stop infection and cover them with a skin graft, she was discharged to go home “bandaged up like a mummy.”
She has been fitted for her first pressure garment, and if she gets on well with it she’ll receive two more. She’ll need to wear the three garments day and night for two years.
“We are up to 4 operations so far in 7 days and still have more to go through,” wrote Davey on the GoFundMe page she set up to raise money for the burns unit. “Without the support of the nurses and the doctors we wouldn’t have got through it. Amazing people to help children who are in so much pain.”
Visit NHS Choices for more information on how to treat burns and scalds.
More: Mum shares heartbreaking baby photos to warn parents of cold sore danger
Leave a Comment