A single mum of two was left fearing for her life after she was rushed in for emergency surgery after swallowing a huge six-inch Covid swab.
Mum-of-two Bobby Lee, 31, was immediately rushed into surgery after gulping down a whopping six-inch Coronavirus swab during a home test last month.
Deciding to do a test after feeling worse for wear following her night shift, the medical tool got stuck in her throat. Unsure what to do, care worker Bobby then tried to swallow the swab - but it only went half-way down.
Worried sick, she raced to A&E from her home in Peterlee, Co. Durham - where doctors said they had never seen such a case like this before.
With doctors fearing for her, she was quickly transferred to a nearby hospital and, after emergency surgery, she is now on the road to recovery.
Speaking about the horrific event, the single mum said: "When I swabbed the back of my throat I sort of gagged.
"The stick twanged in my mouth and got stuck at the back of my throat, with the swab down my throat and the end stuck in the roof of my mouth at the back.
"I tried to remove it but just couldn't get it out, so I literally thought to myself I was going to have to try and swallow it.
"I swallowed, and it went down a bit, but it only went half way down my throat so you could see the end of it sticking out of my throat."
The whole ordeal left Bobby traumatised as she said that at one point she could not breathe temporarily, and was left panicking as she was alone with her youngest child.
She added: "I didn't even ring 111 because I had my little girl with me, I just jumped in the car and drove straight to A&E.
"I was just shocked because I didn't know what was going to happen, if I was going to stop breathing with the little one on my own."
Once in the hospital, Bobby was quickly dispatched to a separate hospital where doctors tried to work out what to do.
She explained: "Every time I was swallowing I couldn't feel it at the back of my throat anymore, but you could still see it.
"They'd never experienced the issue though so they didn't know what to do. I was breathing alright, but you could still see it."
Bobby continued to say: "Eventually I had a mini-surgery with a camera down my throat. They got it out, but I was just so shocked it happened.
"It had gone all the way into my tummy, the pictures they took with the camera down my throat even showed it near my intestines.
"It had to come out of my mouth though as if it had gotten into my intestines it would have punctured them.
"It really was scary, but I'm just glad I had the sense to jump straight in the car. It could have ended up fatal."
