Sonny Arthur left fighting for his life after swallowing caustic soda crystals

Mum Vikki Arthur had been cleaning her shower with caustic soda and had mixed it in a sparkling water bottle.

She threw away the solution but her son, Sonny, who is six, mistook it for lemonade but the remaining crystals had devastating effects.

Vikki said: “I had been cleaning the shower out with caustic soda and had mixed it in a sparkling water bottle.

“I mixed this solution up and once I was done I emptied it down the drain. As far as I was concerned, it was empty.”

The personal trainer told husband Ian, 53, not to use the bathroom and left the bottle in the shower unit.

However, he misunderstood and moved the bottle to the side when he took a shower.

Vikki said: “Later on, we were having dinner and messing around.

“We heard this almighty scream and Sonny came running down from upstairs.

“We thought he had hit his face because his mouth was starting to swell up.

“He went to drink some water and he looked at us, then he started vomiting.

“It was the most horrific vomiting I have ever seen. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Sonny was rushed to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, before being transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Vikki said: “He had seen the bottle and thought it was lemonade.

“There was no liquid in it, but he had put the crystals in his mouth and swallowed them.

“They said ‘Just to warn you, this is bad’. It was almost like they were trying to prepare us for the worst.”

With doctors unable to neutralise the acid, fumes got into Sonny’s lungs, leaving him struggling to breathe.

He spent three days in intensive care fighting for his life.

The effects will be lifelong and Sonny now has to be fed through a tube because of the scarring to his oesophagus.

He also goes back to the hospital every two weeks to have his oesophagus stretched.

Vikki, of The Green, Hatfield Peverel, said: “It’s hard to determine how much scarring there is because they can’t get a camera down there.

“It’s going to be a long, slow journey. He’s a tough little kid.

He’s so brave.”

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VIKKI Arthur plans to raise £12,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital to help other parents with sick children.

Her family have spent 16 years visiting the hospital because daughter their Abbie was born with craniosynostosis – a rare genetic condition which stops one side of the head from forming properly in the womb.

She had her first operation at 15 months and hopes to have her last when she is 18.

With a large family – which includes daughters Chessie, 23, Ellie, 21, and sons Archie, 13, and Eddie, nine – Vikki said she understands the importance of parents having good accommodation when visiting the hospital.

She said: “The money I’m raising is to provide better accommodation for the parents who have to be there for their child.

“You don’t want to leave the hospital and come home.”

She plans to take part in several gruelling races this year, including a run around two New Zealand islands culminating in a 100-mile race.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/teams/SonnyandAbbieArthurGOSHfund.