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Dani Clifford, 38, from Queensland shares her true life story:
My baby, Alice-Rose, sat munching on grapes at our local park when she suddenly frowned.
“What’s wrong, bubba?” I asked my 18-month-old.
I gasped as a small brown moth fell from her mouth.
“Yuck!” I exclaimed, brushing the dead insect from her lips.
It was disgusting, but I figured it was harmless.
Seconds later, she vomited all over herself and started screaming through tears.
She wasn’t allergic to anything but seemed to be having a reaction.
“Let’s get her home,” I urged my husband, Noel.
Five minutes later, her face had swollen up.
Her lips were puffy and purple, and her eyes were bulging.
We rushed her to hospital.
Alice-Rose broke out in a rash so quickly.
“You’re okay, sweetie,” I told her, trying to mask the sheer panic in my voice.
Her little heart was pounding.
A doctor saw us immediately and by then the inside of Alice-Rose’s mouth had blistered.
She couldn’t swallow so was given a syringe of steroids down her throat to calm the inflammation.
“She’s not allergic to anything but she nearly swallowed a moth,” I said.
The doctors were baffled as to how that could cause such a severe reaction.
Photo credit: Donald Hobern
After four hours Alice-Rose was still puffy, but her swelling was under control so we were discharged.
Over the next few days we tried to comfort her with cool wash cloths and soothing icy poles.
It broke my heart to see her so miserable.
That afternoon, I researched moths online and discovered that Alice-Rose had bitten into a white cedar moth.
As caterpillars, they eat the leaves of white cedars, a poisonous type of tree, and that poison stays in them as they turn into moths.
They’re highly dangerous to most animals and humans.
“I had no idea,” I said to Noel. Our doctors hadn’t known either.
Alice-Rose took two weeks to fully recover, but I knew we were lucky.
If she was younger, she may not have survived. Now I’m determined to get the word out for people to be very careful of white cedar moths.
They’re not as harmless as you might think.
