Ella Cain, 2, was playing in the garden when she smelled and brushed against the stems of a plant with delicate yellow flowers. The next day her skin was bubbling with tiny blisters
A mum has issued a warning after her toddler suffered extreme burns after brushing against a plant while playing in the garden.
Ella Cain was playing outside when she smelled and brushed against the stems of a plant with delicate yellow flowers. The next morning, mom Audrey Cain woke the then-two-year-old up when she noticed tiny blisters bubbling on her skin.
Thinking she had fallen victim to poison ivy, the 27-year-old business owner dabbed chamomile cream on her marks to ease the itching. But later that day, the blisters erupted into large, angry-looking burns all over little Ella’s body, including her arms, legs, cheeks and nose.
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After looking up the plant online that had invaded the family’s 113-acre property, Audrey realized it was a wild parsnip plant. The sap from this species reacts with sunlight to cause severe burns on human skin, similar to giant hogweed.
The mum-of-four called doctors in a panic, who advised her to use hydrocortisone to soothe Ella’s burnt skin and to keep the baby out of sunlight. Ella was forced to wear long-sleeved clothing and play in the shade all summer after coming into contact with the plant on July 23, 2023.
Now fully recovered, Audrey shares her three-year-old’s experience to warn parents about a potentially toxic plant lurking in their gardens so they don’t have the same experience. Audrey, from Vassalboro, Maine, USA, said: “It was heartbreaking to see her in so much pain with the burns all over her body.
“We have that plant all over our property. We just thought it was some kind of flowering plant, never knew it was anything dangerous. It was in our backyard. She never picked them, just smelled one, then just touched it. ” we didn’t think of the stems.
“Next thing you know, she got all these burns and they got progressively worse over the next few days, including all over her face. She had to rub on one as well because her leg was broken too.”
“I thought she might have come into contact with poison ivy, but I looked all over the yard and didn’t see any. Then I looked at what yellow plants were near our house and found out it was wild parsnip and causes that.”
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The doctor advised Audrey to treat Ella’s burns with hydrocortisone cream and to keep her out of sunlight so as not to irritate the burns. Audrey said: “Ella said it was itchy and sore so we used chamomile cream and then switched to hydrocortisone. We used vitamin E oil to heal.
“The burns took up to two weeks to heal, the whole time she said how much it hurt. The doctors said she had to be careful not to go out in the sun for too long and stay covered for the rest of the summer.”
“We kept her play area in the shade and covered her skin as much as possible. We live on 113 acres of land so it wouldn’t be possible to get rid of them all, but we trim them as much as we can and spray the area.” .
“I was worried she would be scarred for life, but I think using vitamin E oil when she was in the healing stage really helped because she has no scars. I’m sharing what happened just to make people aware and aware .” stay away from it.”