Water bottle accident lands boy in hospital

Orlando mother says son remains in intensive care

ORLANDO, Fla. – An 11-year-old Orlando boy was seriously injured in a freak accident at school when a water bottle "sucked his tongue in" and had to be surgically removed.

Demetrice Gibson was in gym class on Monday when he took a sip of water from an aluminum bottle.

"He went in to have a drink and when he went to pull it away from his mouth, it just sucked his tongue in," said his mother, Ebony Gibson.  "My heart just dropped.  It just dropped."

Doctors surgically removed the bottle and put Demetrice on a ventilator.  As of Friday, he remained in the intensive care unit at Arnold Palmer Hospital.

"His airways had swollen up so badly and his tongue swollen up so badly, he couldn't breathe on his own," Ebony Gibson said.  "He's very scared."

Gibson said the grooves inside the neck of the bottle cut his tongue and lips.

Two years ago, the same thing happened to then 6-year-old Mary Kate Person, of Philadelphia. She was drinking out of an aluminum water bottle at lunch, when her tongue got stuck.

Gibson said she's throwing away all the aluminum water bottles in her house.

"So if you have them in your home, please throw them away, get rid of them," she said.

Doctors said it's likely that Demetrice will make a fully recovery.