For the last five years of his life, eight-year-old Marley Enjakovic has been dealing with an oppressive cough. The little boy has faced breathing problems and a persistent cough for most of his life. Doctors diagnosed him with various conditions, including asthma and allergies; however, it was recently revealed that the little boy had swallowed a tiny plastic toy that has been lodged in his throat all this time.
The toy was a small plastic flower that the boy apparently swallowed when he was three years old. However, his Toddler parents didn’t realize he had swallowed the item until later down the road when he went through many treatments for asthma and allergies.
In December, Marley began suffering from a debilitating cough. He coughed so much that he started to have trouble breathing, so his parents took him to the hospital immediately. Once at the hospital, it was determined that he needed surgery to remove an obstruction in his throat. The little boy was admitted to the intensive care unit and eventually made a full recovery.
On Tuesday morning, Marley spoke to Sunrise from his hospital bed at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, where he was set to undergo surgery to repair damage to his airway. The surgeons had previously removed an arts-and-craft piece – a plastic flower that had gotten lodged in the boy’s throat.
The reporters queried Marley on what it was like to have a plastic toy caught in his throat for five years; the boy, who spoke very little during the news call, said that having the plastic toy wedged in his throat felt like “nothing.”
Marley’s mother, Skye, said her son started having coughing fits while eating. He would cough so much that it would go on “for hours upon hours,” and said “it was getting scary” for the Australian mother.
The blockage in Marley’s throat was causing some very serious health problems. He also started to fall behind his friends during weekend games of basketball and soccer because he got so out of breath.
Marley’s mother initially doubted the doctor’s diagnosis of asthma because he coughed after eating and drinking, which is not a symptom usually linked with asthma.
Skye was startled to see the toy blocking her son’s throat. However, she was relieved to find that it was only a toy and not something more serious.
“I was absolutely shocked. But also really relieved, to be honest, because out of all these years, I finally had an answer,” she stated. “My main concern at that point in time was that he was actually born with that condition. Because if he had been born with it, he would have had other issues. To know it was caused by a foreign body, it was a slight bit of relief for me. My message to other parents is that if you feel like there is something wrong, just keep pushing for it. I am so glad I did because it means I have him today.”
