Lucky Toddler Survives After Pencil Pierced Her Eye and Brain While Playing

Coloring and drawing can be one of the most innocent activities for a toddler but what not many people realize is that it can be potentially dangerous. Imagine the horror of parents who, instead of feeling proud about their daughter’s work of art, saw that a pencil the tot used to draw had just pierced her eye.

Two-year-old Wren Bowell had been drawing in her bedroom and ran outside toward her parents to show her work. On her way, she tripped over the stairgate and the pencil that was in her hand impaled her eye and went into her brain.

Wren tripped and fell while holding a pencil that pierced her eye.

She was then taken to the hospital with the object still lodged in her eye.

Scans on the little girl's brain revealed she had a very serious injury and needed to see a specialist.

Wren’s father, Martyn, recalled the horror and realized things can go wrong even at any given time. He said:

“A broken bone would be bad enough, but something happening to the eye, head or brain is one of the worst things that could possibly go wrong.”

It was fortunate that Wren’s mother, Michelle, is a nurse and she didn’t consider taking out the pencil. Wren was taken to the hospital where scans revealed her injury is serious. It was decided that she will be transferred to another hospital to see neurosurgeons.

It was then revealed that Wren had been very lucky because she was only a millimeter away from permanent brain damage or death. Consultant neurosurgeon Ian Pople explained:

“The pencil was within a millimeter of hitting a big blood vessel in the brain. She was incredibly lucky as she came out fortunately with no major bleeding.”

Pople added that the pencil didn't damage the eyeball, which was really fortunate.

Neurosurgeons spent four hours operating on Wren to save her life.

Wren had to have a part of her skull removed so doctors can operate. Also, doctors had to use an antibiotic wash to make sure that no pencil flecks remained in the toddler’s brain. Wren’s skull was then put back together using biodegradable plastic plates and screws.

After surgery, Wren spent three weeks in the hospital before she was allowed to go home with family.

The little girl had to take anti-seizure medications as a preventive measure but generally, she was fine.

In more than a decade of being a consultant neurosurgeon, Pople said that Wren’s case was no the first. He had known about a case, which he wasn’t involved in, that was fatal. Another case was not fatal but did bring a lot of damage since a major blood vessel of the victim was hit. In Wren’s case, however, no major vessels were affected. Wren also came out of the hospital unscathed, with no brain damage and her eyesight unaffected.