An eight-year-old boy who has been suffering from a cough for five years is set to undergo surgery after doctors discovered a plastic flower lodged in his throat.
Little Marley was initially diagnosed with asthma after he began suffering from respiratory symptoms as a toddler, but his mum, Skye Enjakavic, wasn’t convinced.
Skye continued to seek further medical assistance but for five years, failed to get to the bottom of what was plaguing her son.
Speaking to the Today Show, Marley’s dad Jay Enjakovic said his son’s issues impacted on his ability to play sport like football and basketball, as well as his ability to keep food down.
Things had gone “downhill pretty quick,” he said.
"He couldn’t run out his games, coughing a lot more, bringing a lot of food up, bringing water up every time he ate.”
“That’s when Skye and I really pressed and pushed and asked more questions. We really wanted an answer because we had a feeling it was not asthma," he continued.
Marley’s condition went downhill in December 2021, with the little boy coughing for hours on end.
His cough also forced him to throw up and one day he was rushed from his home in Adelaide, Australia, to hospital as he struggled to breathe.
At the hospital, Marley’s lungs were so inflamed that doctor’s couldn’t see the cause of the issue.
He was shifted to the intensive care unit where he underwent surgery and doctors discovered a small plastic flower lodged in his throat.
His mum said she was “absolutely shocked” at the discovery of the item, which looked like it belonged in an arts and crafts supply.
However, she was also “really relieved” she finally had an answer, following a period of concern that he had been born with a medical condition.
To know it was caused by a foreign body was a “slight bit of relief” for her, she said.
While doctors were successfully able to remove the toy, Marley’s symptoms soon returned, due to damage to his oesophagus.
He was taken back to hospital and placed on a feeding tube for four months and is now set to undergo surgery to repair the damage.
Enjakovic is now urging other parents to speak up if they believed something was wrong with their children.
“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,” she said.
The family has now established a fundraiser for the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation, with a goal to “positively impact” the health and wellbeing of women, children, and their families.
