A mum is urging LEGO manufacturers to keep a small hole in every piece after it saved her son's life.
Laura Deena Halls, 31, shared the heartbreaking story of how a brick became lodged down her eight-year-old son Keane's throat, causing him to be rushed to hospital and attend theatre to remove it.
The mother is now starting a campaign - #HolesInEveryLego - to make both parents and LEGO aware of her story and the dangers these bricks can cause.
"I shared my son's story in the hope it'll discourage other children from making that split-second decision [of putting LEGO in their mouth] that could cost them their life," Halls told HuffPost UK Parents.
Halls shared the details of what happened to her son via Facebook on 17 January.
She explained Keane did the "daft thing" of trying to separate two pieces of LEGO with his teeth.
She wrote on the post: "Please, please everyone discourage your children from doing this! My little man was playing LEGO upstairs and next thing he's thrashing around and couldn't breath.
"One of the pieces had gone down his throat, I smacked his back until it was bright red. I got him to keep coughing but it was stuck, cue an ambulance ride into John Radcliffe hospital Oxfordshire.
"Now slight colour back he was still wheezing, so was sent for x-ray of his chest and throat hoping nothing could be seen and meaning it had gone the right way into his digestive system to be passed out.
"Sadly not, the LEGO piece had travelled down his wind pipe and become lodged in the tube of his right lung."
Keane was in theatre just one hour later having emergency surgery to remove plastic brick.
Halls with her son Keane, holding the piece of LEGO that was lodged in his throat
Halls continued: "Doctors said as it was in the lung, air could get in 'by that tiny life-saving hole' but struggled to get out.
"I don't blame LEGO. I do think though that all LEGO pieces should have a little hole for that and the fast actions of the staff here in hospital saved my boy's life yesterday.
"Please parents and carers reiterate to your kids the dangers of LEGO or in fact any small toy in their mouths, please I wouldn't want anyone to go through this #HolesInEveryLego."
She told HuffPost UK Parents: "Keane is getting there, he's still a bit sore and afraid to use LEGO (however enjoying his fame if for all the wrong reasons!).
A spokesperson from LEGO told HuffPost UK Parents: "At the LEGO Group we put product quality and safety as our highest priority. We naturally deeply regret the very unfortunate and unpleasant experience of both the parents and child in the specific case, and we are happy to hear they are doing fine despite the experience.
"As a company we adhere to the strictest toy safety standards globally and even go beyond legal requirements in our internal quality and safety standards that we apply to our products, to ensure the safety of children when they play with LEGO bricks.
"Despite the very stringent safety measures we take, we do not recommend that children put LEGO bricks in their mouth.
"On LEGO boxes containing small parts we make aware, that these may pose a potential choking hazard. The text is written alongside the age marking that indicates that these products are not suitable for children aged 0-3.
"In many sets we also include brick-separators – small tools that enable children to separate most LEGO bricks in a safe manner if they are unable to do it with their hands.
"We are grateful for all the feedback we receive from consumers around the world and we use this to improve both our products as well as product-related communication."
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