CHEHALIS, Wash. — A woman is recovering after she swallowed a barbecue brush wire.
"I thought I was getting an ulcer," Bonnie Jean Kay told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.
For six weeks, her stomach was hurting; sometimes a more sometimes more, but then one night it felt like she was being stabbed with a knife.
"Like a stiletto just stabbing right under my ribcage," Kay said.
Kay ended up at the emergency room of Providence Centralis Hospital and a CAT scan revealed there was a 1½-inch long object in her liver.
Kay underwent surgery and the doctor discovered that object was a metal bristle from a barbeque brush. She said it was a frightening situation telling KIRO 7 she could have died.
Dr. Emery Chang performed the surgery. He was surprised to find a barbecue brush wire inside of Kay and said she is actually fortunate it made its way through her stomach and into the liver and not somewhere else.
"If it hit a vessel or anything like that it could have been disastrous," said Chang.
Kay is just the latest person recently to require medical attention after swallowing a barbecue brush wire.
The Centers for Disease Control has issued a warning of the potential danger.
Kay's husband, Stephen, said he is now using spray-on cleaner instead of a brush to clean his grill.
Kay told KIRO 7 she never imagined she could swallow a brush wire, but now that it's happened to her, she wants others to be careful.
"If just one person cannot go through the pain and suffering that I went through, I'll feel like I've really done something important,” Kay said.
KIRO