A Gold Coast toddler has survived a horror health episode after inhaling a cake decoration that turned to sludge in his lungs and forced doctors to put him in a coma.
Fourteen-month-old Dustin “Dusty” Wildman was pictured smiling at Queensland Children’s Hospital on Wednesday, almost two weeks after breathing in the decorations his mother, Katie Robinson, was putting on a cake on May 1.
“Our beautiful boy is awake and alert, playing and smiling,” Robinson said.
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“This morning he had all breathing assistance taken out and is breathing completely on his own.
“He just has the feeding tube in while we try and get some food in orally.”
Tests show Dusty’s lungs are still inflamed from inhaling the inedible cake decorating powder, which formed a dangerous mass in his lungs and required emergency surgery.
“He’s trying to talk but still has a very raspy voice,” Robinson said.
“We’re hoping he proves the doctors wrong and there’s no permanent damage.”
Doctors sent away the decorative powder for testing and discovered it contained copper and zinc compounds.
“All these products look exactly the same and the fact that there’s toxic, non-edible products sitting right next to edible products that do the same job, technically, is the problem,” Robinson said previously.
The metal-based powder involved in the incident was labelled “for use on removable parts” — wording Robinson believes is vague and open to interpretation.
The supplier has since removed the product from sale and contacted stockists, requesting it be destroyed.
