One-Year-Old Toddler Nearly Dies After Inhaling Popcorn In Disneyland

A one-year-old toddler from Mulvane, Kansas reportedly had an unfortunate brush with death after the popcorn he ate accidentally ended up in his lungs while on a family trip to Disneyland.

The disastrous incident reportedly happened while the toddler, Briar, and his parents Lakynn and Eastin Dockers, along with his two-year-old sister, Hadlee, were having fun and exploring Disneyland in Southern California.

Their day of family amusement took a drastic turn when the Dockers decided to buy popcorn. While enjoying the treat, Lakynn reportedly took the popcorn out of young Briar's hands, this immediately spurred the child to cry and a piece of popcorn that was in his mouth found itself lodged in his airway, KWCH reported.

“As I took the popcorn bucket out of his hands, he got upset like he was going to cry and he sucked in to let out like a big upset cry and when he did that, the popcorn that was in there shot straight down to his lungs,” Lakynn said. “He didn’t choke. He cleared it; it was a cough.”

However, hours later, Briar had to be taken to a hospital and was rushed to the emergency room. Doctors reportedly found pieces of popcorn stuck in both of his lungs and demanded that he needed to undergo surgery immediately. The physicians warned the couple that it was highly unlikely for the toddler to make it out of the operation alive.

“I don’t think we heard a word after that. We just crumbled,” Lakynn said.

Thankfully, Briar made it through the surgery safely and spent a night recovering in the intensive care unit (ICU).

“Popcorn, when kids ingest it, it goes into their lungs, and it expands. So, that’s why it’s so dangerous,” Lakynn said.

The Dockers family wants to raise awareness about the incident to prevent another child from going through a similar situation.

“It’s really easy in the moment to say, ‘oh, it will be fine, just one time, not a big deal,'” Lakynn said.

“But it’s definitely a huge deal and we are here to say we are the one in a million family who went through this and it’s just not worth it. Nothing is worth losing your child over a decision you made,” she added.

The Dockers added that food items like grapes, raisins, and nuts can also be dangerous for children younger than four.