‘I took ONE bite of a burger and felt like I had swallowed glass. PLEASE check your grills, and THROW OUT your wire brushes!’

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“It’s officially grilling season, I feel like it’s my responsibility to share the danger of wire bristled grill brushes since I still see them EVERYWHERE!

Three years ago, I took ONE bite of a burger, and immediately felt like I had swallowed glass.

I felt a sharp stabbing pain in the back of my throat.

The more I swallowed, the more it dug.

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I started gagging and choking, throwing up, trying to drink water to ‘wash it down’ and still the pain in the back of my throat wouldn’t go away.

With my son in the bathtub and my husband frantically trying to help, I decided I needed to take a trip to the ER. I could tell it wasn’t going anywhere on its own.

Once we finally got in, this was the culprit. A wire grill brush bristle was lodged across the back of my throat by both ends.

Needless to say, it freaked us all out since both my husband and son had also eaten a burger and it easy could have been one of theirs.

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Later, we did some investigating and this is what we saw on our grill. Wire bristles EVERYWHERE.

I looked it up and there were stories of children getting them lodged halfway down their esophagus, one woman ended up with a feeding tube for months because they were unable to identify her stomach pain she was experiencing until months later when they realized it was a grill brush bristle that had perforated her stomach.

Turns out i got pretty lucky with it only being stuck in my throat.

SO! PLEASE check your grills, and THROW OUT your wire brushes! Pay attention to the food you eat at other people’s BBQ’s, and the types of brushes they use.

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ONE bite sent me to the ER, I am so thankful it wasn’t much worse!

Be safe!”

Emily Long / The Resolved Life

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Emily Long of the Resolved Life. Submit your story here, and be sure to subscribe to our best love stories here.

SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter to educate others and to encourage them to practice safe grilling.

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