A schoolboy nearly died after he inhaled a Lego brick into his LUNG – but survived thanks to a tiny hole in the toy which he could breathe through.
Keane Halls, eight, was trying to split apart two pieces with his teeth when he was playing with his toys while his mum helped his little brother.
But one tiny 3cm-long cone-shaped piece shot down his throat, leaving him gasping for air and shouting for help.
His horrified mum Laura, 31, thumped him on the back but when she couldn’t dislodge the toy she called 999.
Keane was rushed to hospital and an X-ray revealed the blockage was inches down his right bronchus – the tube leading from his main windpipe to his right lung.
Thankfully, the unusual Lego brick had a tiny hole in the middle, allowing life-saving air to get into his lungs, but not out, causing his chest to swell up.
Mum-of-four Laura, from Oxford, said: “He had been sent upstairs because he wanted to play on the Xbox, but I was just sorting out his little brother.
“I told him to go up and by the time he had made his bed, I would be done.
“I heard him thrashing about upstairs, and saying ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’.”
“I told him to stop messing about, before I realised he was choking.”
“He had separated the blocks with his teeth and breathed one in.
“The colour drained from his face. By the time the ambulance got here his colour had come back, but he was wheezing.”
Brave Keane was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital, where nurses heard a “rattle” in his chest.
He had hour-long emergency surgery under general anaesthetic to remove the brick – which he now has in a tiny jar.
He came home after an overnight stay in hospital, and in now wary about playing with Lego.
“He said he is a bit frightened now,” said Laura, who lives with husband Dave, 34, a civil servant.
She posted a warning about the dangers of the tiny toys on Facebook, which was shared or viewed more than 4,000 times.
Full time mum Laura is now calling on the toy makers to make sure every Lego brick has a tiny hole.
“I don’t blame Lego, but I do think all pieces should have a little hole in, because that’s what saved my son’s life.
“The hole in it made the difference between life and death.”
