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Screaming toddler has skin removed after brush with 'UK's most dangerous plant'

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date25 April 2024
Publication titleDaily Mirror, The: Web Edition Articles (London, England)
Little two-year-old Kayvon Wright developed red spots on his face and hands the morning after walking with his mum near Chard Reservoir in Somerset, England. Initially diagnosed as chickenpox, the spots soon developed into painful blisters, and the tot was rushed to a burns unit. Two days later the real culprit was revealed -Kayvon had touched the dreaded giant hogweed

Mum Samantha Morgan from Ebbw Vale, Wales, said: "The blisters filled up, and they spread all over his mouth and his face. He had a massive blister on his face and it popped on his cheek, and it was oozing. When we went to the Bristol burns unit they had to remove some skin. I think that was the most horrific thing for me: I will never forget my son's screams as they were taking his skin off him.

"It was horrendous. It was absolutely horrible. He was really stressed out by that point. He was in so much pain that he was just lethargic, he didn't want to do anything, he was just lying in a hospital bed with bandages on his hands and his legs. Normally he's really active and outgoing, but he was just lying there not doing anything."

Giant hogweed carries a sap that stops the skin protecting itself against the sun's rays, causing gruesome burns when exposed to natural light. It often causes no immediate pain, meaning its victims can continue to burn in the sun without realising there is a problem. And the plant can spread its sap with only a moment's exposure. Miss Morgan, 32, said Kayvon would've "literally just brushed against it". She said: "He was just walking up the pathway that goes up to the reservoir, and obviously he's just grabbing hold of everything that he can, touching plants and flowers. We didn't even know hogweed existed.

"Then, when he got it on his hands, he's touched his face and spread it around his body. It didn't activate until it was really sunny the following morning. It started off with just some red spots on his hand, some red patches on his skin. It was almost like he had sunburn on his fingers.

"And then it went from that to having little blister spots. At first we thought it could be chickenpox; but they just got bigger from there. He had to go...

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