A six-year-old boy from Essex nearly died after drinking dangerous drain cleaner that he though was water.
The terrifying incident happened just days before Christmas, when six-year-old Sonny Arthur thought the lethal liquid, which was stored in a mineral water bottle, was safe to drink.
Sonny's mum, Vikki Arthur, told the Evening Standard that even though the bottle, which she had been using to pour the product down the shower drain, only contained a few droplets of the substance, that was unfortunately enough to seriously injure Sonny, who was left with severe internal burns.
After hearing a 'horrible' scream, she came to him running and found him vomiting and foaming at the mouth. It was only when paramedics in the ambulance asked if there was any possibility that he had ingested cleaning products that Mrs Arthur realised what had happened.
Doctors prepared his family for the worst, but luckily, Sonny woke up after two days in an induced comma and started to improve.
All images: Sonny Arthur GOSH fundraising page
Sonny is the youngest of five siblings
After two weeks in the hospital, doctors allowed the young boy to go home for New Year's Eve, but he will still be fed through a tube for at least a year, due to the damage caused to his oesophagus.
Speaking to theStandard, Vikki said: 'It was like something out of a horror movie. It was just awful, I have nightmares about it. You could see his body shutting down.'
Sonny's big family - he's the youngest of five brothers and sisters - spent Christmas day together at the hospital, and now Jenna Wingrave, a friend of the family, is asking for donations to help them support Sonny closely in his recovery.
The family have added that any funds not used will be donated to the hospital, as a thank you for being 'fantastic' in helping Sonny. 'Without them the outlook would have been very different,' they say.
Mrs Arthur also alerted for the danger that are cleaning products for children: 'It just burns all the internal organs, it’s horrible stuff. I'll never use that again.'
'It was something that could have been prevented but it was just a stupid error. It could have happened to anybody. He’s quite a sensible kid and that it happened to him shows how easy it is.'
You can visit Sonny's fundraising page here.
