How a Trip to Kmart Nearly Ended in a Toddler Losing Her Eye

A trip to Kmart ended in disaster when mum was left fearing her daughter might have lost her eyesight.

Mum, Hayley Skye Smith, had been shopping at her local Toormina Kmart store for a winter jacket for her 20-month-old daughter, Amaia, when the terrifying incident occurred.

Little Amaia was looking at colourful headbands and jewellery right next to the rack of jackets where mum Hayley was standing, when the toddler leaned forward to grab something a metal prong on the end of the rack went right into her eye.

kmart headband

“I heard her crying and didn’t know exactly what had happened until Tohri told me. I thought maybe she accidentally walked into the trolley but I was very wrong,” Hayley tells Yahoo 7 Be, refering to her sister Tohri who was right by Amaia when it happened.

“I picked her up to comfort her, saying I’m going to carry her from now on. Then she looked at me with her eye full of blood.

“Immediately I panicked and ran over to the young bag check boy a few short metres away. He then panicked and didn’t know what to do as he saw my daughter’s eye and nose begin pouring out blood.”

kmart hanger

Amaia was unresponsive

Then in a brief moment, Amaia stopped crying. When her mum checked to see why she saw Amaia had gone floppy and was unresponsive.

“My heart sunk to my stomach. My stomach was in my feet and my head was in the clouds. So many things were running through my head. I thought maybe the prong could have gone as far as her brain and I was a mess,” Hayley says.

Thankfully it wasn’t long before Amaia regained consciousness and the staff – who, Hayley says were ‘all lovely’ – assisted them to the back room as they waited for an ambulance.

“We looked at my daughter’s eye and there was just a big blood clot over it and I screamed ‘oh my god. I don’t want her to be blind,’ I was so scared, my legs were getting weak and I was breaking a sweat from all the shock,” Hayley says.

Things could have been very different

Fortunately the metal prong had gone under her eyelid. But things could have been very different.

Hayley is now wanting to raise awareness about the potential dangers of similar shopping racks.

“It terrifies me how dangerous these things are and that things could have gone so much worse because even I’ve walked close to one of these racks before and scratched my arm. I want my story out there so other people can be aware and not go through what I had to.”

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23 Comments

- - meedee said
  - 23 Sep 2022
    8:30 am
How totally scary.
Yet another reason why its best to have your children strapped into their pram or into the trolley. Its impossible to watch your kids while you are looking at possible purchases,
Just a freak accident but so very concerning

- - Blossom said
  - 18 Sep 2018
    12:15 am
I would make a 2 year old sit in the trolley unless you had a responsible person with you. That way you know exactly where they are. They move so quickly that you simply cannot let them leave your side and as hard as it they have to be taught not to touch things – that is sometimes how accidents happen. Other stores have them too. It could easily have happened in another store.

- - Becbec80 said
  - 01 Sep 2018
    11:03 pm
Terrifying! My boys are so active this could happen so easily. You have to be so vigilant hey

- - becstalou said
  - 01 Sep 2018
    8:58 pm
This is awful I’m glad it wasn’t worse.

- - tessie said
  - 12 Jul 2018
    9:32 am
I never realised just how dangerous these stands are. I hope your daughter is okay and no permanent damage has been done. When she became unresponsive I would have thought the same as you.

- - Amanda Holland said
  - 11 Jul 2018
    7:59 pm
I would have been beside myself too. I’m always cautious about them

- - BellaB said
  - 11 Jul 2018
    10:55 am
I’ve actually thought how dangerous those things are and tried to keep my kids away from them.

- - rovermum said
  - 11 Jul 2018
    9:19 am
I imagine this would have been very scary for everyone involved – bub, Mum, and even the KMart staff.

- - rachel1970 said
  - 10 Jul 2018
    5:16 pm
Oh my goodness, how scary.

- - nadine_hill said
  - 10 Jul 2018
    1:02 pm
Oh my God – how terrifying, thank goodness she is okay!

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 10 Jul 2018
    12:55 pm
Oh my word, how scary! I wouldn’t have even known what to do, something definitely needs to be done.

- - mom309506 said
  - 10 Jul 2018
    12:28 pm
Oh no this is terrible. Kmart are accountable and should have all of these racks up high not accessible to toddlers or children. Thank god your daughter is ok

- - ella12 said
  - 10 Jul 2018
    10:47 am
Oh my gosh the poor little bub. So scary. Glad the little one is ok now.

- - Miss.marwee said
  - 09 Jul 2018
    11:51 pm
Omg how scary!!!

- - Mum2archer said
  - 09 Jul 2018
    11:19 pm
Ouch poor little bubba. Hope she makes a full recovery. This would have been so scary for all involved

- - ~Loui~ said
  - 09 Jul 2018
    11:02 pm
That would have been so frightening for everyone involved. I hope there is no permanent damage to her eye.

- - nealsq said
  - 09 Jul 2018
    10:55 pm
very scary but really the parent should have been supervising such a young child more closely or put little Miss into a trolley. I am not an over protective mum at all but it does drive me crazy when parent just let their kids wander about the shops

- - sambii said
  - 09 Jul 2018
    10:53 pm
I’m forever getting my bag caught on those things, I’ve scratched my arms more times than I can count — I’ve always put it down to the type of display and my clumsiness….

- - Ethan&LarasMumma said
  - 09 Jul 2018
    10:28 pm
I have had to tell my kids to watch out for those before, they are often at head height for a toddler and I am surprised there hasn’t been more serious accidents. I thought these sort of things would be banned by now.

- - mom74005 said
  - 09 Jul 2018
    9:54 pm
Geez quite a scary incident. Glad the child was ok in the end.