Mum issues urgent warning after ‘much-loved’ son choked to death on soft ball at day centre
A “MUCH-LOVED” man has died after choking on a soft sensory ball at a day centre for people with learning difficulties.
Louis Rawlinson, 27, from Heywood, Greater Manchester, suffered a cardiac arrest after swallowing the object, which was just under the size of a tennis ball and had beads inside.
He was given oxygen by paramedics and taken to hospital, where doctors discovered the ball had gone down his throat and was sitting on his vocal cords.
Louis tragically died six days later from a lack of oxygen.
His devastated mum Andrea Buckley is now campaigning to make parents aware of the risks of sensory balls.
She told ITV Granada: “It was really, really hard. I think if it was part of his condition it probably wouldn’t have been as hard
“He’d gone to day centre perfectly happy on that Wednesday morning and then six days later, we’d lost him. That’s been hard to get over.”
Choking happens when someone’s airway suddenly gets blocked, either fully or partly.
Around 276 Brits died from choking in 2021, according to the Office For National Statistics.
The number of people dying from choking on objects other than food more than doubled in the two years up to 2021 compared to the previous two years.
Louis choked on the 6.5cm ball on July 19 last year, after “playing with his sensory toys like he always did”, Andrea said.
Her son, who was “loved by everybody he met”, started having a seizure after coming back from the bathroom, she said.
She told BBC Radio Manchester: “He was 27, he wasn’t a baby. He was supervised, he had had it for three years, played with it for three years.
“You would think a choking risk is something that’s small enough to go into anyone’s throat.
“Not something that is the size of this. You wouldn’t think that it would be a choking risk.”
He was taken to Fairfield Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester, where the ball was discovered by an anaesthetist trying to put a tube into his throat, she said.
An inquest at Rochdale Coroners’ Court heard that scans prior to his death showed he suffered a brain injury due to oxygen deprivation caused by an obstruction of his voice box.
He’d gone to day centre perfectly happy on that Wednesday morning and then six days later, we’d lost him
Andrea Buckley
The coroner ruled his death was accidental.
Andrea said while she accepts the conclusion, she wants to raise awareness about the “readily available” balls that are “aimed at people with special needs and autism”.
She said they should have advanced warnings on them and woul support a “possible ban”.
She told the Manchester Evening News: “My mission now is to campaign to make people aware of how dangerous these balls are.
“They are readily available and not all have warnings on them.
“Because of my son’s complex needs, it was something he used all the time, something he played with every day at the centre. It ended up going in his mouth and being the cause of his death.”
What to do if someone is choking
Mild choking
If the airway is only partly blocked, the person will usually be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe, and may be able to clear the blockage themselves.
In adults:
- Encourage them to keep coughing
- Ask them to try to spit out the object
- Don’t put your fingers in their mouth
- If coughing doesn’t work, start back blows
In children:
- If you can see the object, try to remove it (but don’t poke blindly)
- Encouraging coughing
- Shout for help if coughing isn’t effective or the child is silent
- Use back blows if the child is still conscious but not coughing
Severe choking
In adults:
Where choking is severe, the person won’t be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe.
Without help, they’ll eventually become unconscious, so you should carry out back blows.
In children:
Back blows can be carried out on children under one year.
If this doesn’t work, chest thrusts can be started on kids up to 12 months old, and abdominal thrusts on those over one year.
Call 999 if the blockage doesn’t come out after trying back blows and either chest or abdominal thrusts.
Keep trying this cycle until help arrives.
Even if the object has come out, get medical help. Part of the object might have been left behind, or the patient might have been hurt by the procedure.
Source: NHS