A NINE-year-old boy had to undergo surgery after swallowing a lithium battery which almost burned a hole through his oesophagus.

Lee Turner, who is now ten, had been playing with a battery-powered tealight he keeps in his bedroom and uses as a night light.

He undid the light and started to play around with the lithium battery, throwing it in the air and trying to catch it.

But he caught the battery in his mouth and swallowed it.

Lee’s terrified mum, Nicki, 33, rushed him to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford but the following morning, they were blue-lighted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where Lee underwent emergency surgery.

Nicki, from Witham said doctors told her if Lee had waited ten more minutes to be taken to surgery the battery, which was lodged in his windpipe, would have burnt a whole through his oesophagus.

Lee managed to escape completely unscathed from the incident.

Nicki, who also has two daughters aged 17 and 13, said: “It was the most terrifying moment of my life.

“I didn’t even realise how serious it was until we got to the hospital.

“But after the doctors spoke to me, I didn’t even think we were going to be able to celebrate Lee’s tenth birthday with him, on January 6.

“He was so scared in hospital, asking me if he was going to die or if they were going to cut him open. I had to tell him not to panic otherwise I would have panicked more.

“But he’s absolutely fine - there’s no scarring, no swelling, it left no damage at all. He’s a lucky boy.”

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Nicki, who works as a carer for vulnerable adults with disabilities, now wants to raise awareness of how dangerous lithium batteries can be.

She said: “I just want to get it out there as much as possible and make people aware that lithium batteries are so dangerous.

“Lee has had that tealight in his room for two years and likes to have it on when he goes to sleep.

“But what I didn’t realise is that, where there should usually be a screw in place to stop kids from being able to get to the lithium battery, that actually wasn’t there.

“He had managed to take apart the tealight and get the battery out. He was just throwing it in the air and trying to catch it, like kids do but it landed in his mouth.”

She added: “We feel lucky to have him home with us today, and back to his usual self.

“I think he’s learned his lesson about not going near batteries, too.”