After mistaking the tube as medical drops, a father accidentally superglued his nine-year old son’s eyes shut for four consecutive days.
Kevin Day took a tube that he thought was the medication from the family home at Thirsk, North Yorkshire, in February. He then dropped some of the liquid in the left eye of Rupert, his son, who had complained of itchy eyes.
Mr Day realized it was superglue, and was overcome with a “massive fear that my son had blinded me and ruined my life”.
The father called 999 and operators told him to keep washing the eye until paramedics arrived.
They bathed Rupert and gave him pain relief, just before the land ambulance arrived.
Rupert spent some time in hospital. However, he couldn’t open his eye for four days. It was so tense that he couldn’t even blink for the next four days.
Kevin Day took a tube that he believed was the medication from the family home at Thirsk, North Yorkshire, in February. He then dropped some of the liquid in the left eye of Rupert (pictured), who had complained that it was itchy.
His vision was not damaged by the glue and he is now seeing well.
The entire family will now be able to watch the drama on Helicopter ER tonight.
Mr Day said that Rupert scratched the eye of his son and we were given eye cream. I tried to put it in, but I realized that I had instead put superglue in his eyes.
“I called 999 and they advised us to flush it. They said that an ambulance was on the way. I didn’t expect the air ambulance.
This happened in February. Rupert had been using eye drops for 2 days when his dad accidentally dipped into the glue.
Fortunately, no glue was used to damage his eye. His vision is now perfect.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance dispatched their Topcliffe aircraft due the close proximity to the airbase. They were the first on the scene.
Rupert will appear on Helicopter ER tonight at 10pm on Channel Really
The episode will also include a South Yorkshire DIY accident, and a cardiac arrest at Ilkley.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance is a service that serves five million people in Yorkshire and performs more than 13,000 missions annually.
The charity operates two state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.