Any parent will tell you — from the very moment our children enter the world, our number one mission becomes clear: protect them at all costs. Their safety becomes not just a priority, but the priority, woven into every choice we make and every precaution we take.
So when something unthinkable happens, despite our best efforts, it cuts deep — especially when it’s something we couldn’t have seen coming.
That was the devastating reality for Jackie Fedro, a mother who will never forget the day in 2016 when her then-13-year-old daughter, Gabbie, endured a horrifying accident inside the supposed safety of their own home.
According to BuzzFeed, Jackie and her husband had decided that Christmas would be the perfect time to gift Gabbie her first cellphone — a decision millions of parents make every year. They chose an LG d500, hoping it would help them stay in touch with their daughter amidst her hectic extracurricular schedule.
But what should have been a moment of joy and growing independence quickly turned into a parent’s worst fear.
One afternoon, Jackie was startled by Gabbie’s blood-curdling scream from upstairs. Seconds later, the teen came running down, clutching her neck in agony.
“She was in so much pain she was screaming hysterically,” Jackie recalled. “It’s the worst feeling in the world as a mother — watching your child scream and not knowing how to help.”
After several agonizing minutes, Gabbie was finally able to explain what had happened: she had been using her phone while it was plugged into its charger. Somehow, an electrical current surged through the charging cable, passed into her device, and then transferred to her metal necklace — branding her neck with second-degree burns.
The burns left a ring of damage around her neck, one that doctors say will likely leave a permanent scar.
Credit / Shutterstock
Jackie, understandably shaken, is now on a mission to warn other parents about the lesser-known dangers of using cellphones while charging.
“With so many kids using phones these days, parents need to be warned about the harm they can cause,” she said.
Though the incident happened years ago, the lesson is just as urgent today: sometimes the danger isn’t in the big, scary things — it’s in the small, everyday moments we assume are safe.
