Schoolboy dies after swallowing ten magnets in TikTok stunt
WeirdNews
He didn't tell anyone he had swallowed small balls
(Web Desk) An eight-year-old boy killed by swallowing ten magnets may have been following a deadly TikTok craze.
Rhys Millum, described as a 'live-wire' and 'dare devil', died after his small intestine was perforated by ten 3mm silver spherical magnets - which had all stuck together in a 30mm long row in his bowel.
He didn't tell anyone he had swallowed the tiny balls - ten days after a discussion with his brother about boosting social media profiles by performing dare devil stunts.
But 'the reality of what was inside him' was only revealed by a full body CT scan several days after his life was cut tragically short, a coroner said.
His mother Andrea Boyd, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, said she had seen the magnets featured on TikTok as a 'fake piercing challenge' where the person puts one magnet on the outside of the cheek and the other on the inside of the cheek.
Police also found a video of him chatting to his brother about boosting social media profiles by doing stunts that were 'a bit dare devil..like drinking hot sauce'.
The video was recorded on September 19, ten days before the tragedy unfolded.
His mother said Rhys had been fine until the morning of Friday September 30, 2022 when he came into her room complaining of stomach pain.
She said: 'He was doubled over screaming. I gave him Calpol thinking it was wind. It did not seem to settle him much.'
Mrs Boyd, who also had the child's ten year old brother off sick with a cold, rang her mother, asking her to take Rhys to hospital when she came off her night shift.
But she then decided to take both boys to Harrogate District Hospital A&E department.
He was triaged by a nurse in a cubicle and given more painkillers and anti-fever medication.
He appeared to be recovering and after a doctor completed three physical examinations of his abdomen and further periods of observation it was decided he was fit for discharge.
On the way home, she brought him to sweets and sushi as a treat but he vomited them up again shortly after being placed under a duvet on the couch.
After being advised to bring him back if he took a turn for the worse, Ms Boyd took Rhys home to be picked up by his father Richard Millum for the weekend.
Over Saturday and Sunday, Rhys did not want to eat anything and struggled to drink fluids. There were periods in between vomiting where he appeared to recover to watch TV and play video games.
But on Sunday evening he appeared while Mr Millum was bathing his sibling, saying he 'could not see'. He sat down in a chair and shortly afterwards lost consciousness.
Mr Millum tried desperately to revive his son and called an ambulance. The paramedics continued to work on him in the flat and ambulance before taking him to intensive care.
He suffered a heart attack on arrival at hospital and was placed on life support but never regained consciousness, despite frantic attempts to revive him, and was declared dead the same evening.
