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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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  • 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

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  • 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.

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  • Terrifying! My boys are so active this could happen so easily. You have to be so vigilant hey

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  • This is awful I’m glad it wasn’t worse.

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  • 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.

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  • I would have been beside myself too. I’m always cautious about them

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  • I’ve actually thought how dangerous those things are and tried to keep my kids away from them.

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  • I imagine this would have been very scary for everyone involved – bub, Mum, and even the KMart staff.

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  • Oh my goodness, how scary.

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  • Oh my God – how terrifying, thank goodness she is okay!

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  • Oh my word, how scary! I wouldn’t have even known what to do, something definitely needs to be done.

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  • 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

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  • Oh my gosh the poor little bub. So scary. Glad the little one is ok now.

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  • Omg how scary!!!

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  • Ouch poor little bubba. Hope she makes a full recovery. This would have been so scary for all involved

    Reply

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