A DISTRAUGHT mother said her teenage son was almost killed when his religious cross electrocuted him in a freak accident – burning the necklace into his flesh.
Danielle Davis went to bed as usual on the night of April 30 when a piercing scream woke her in her son’s room next door.
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The mother of six went to investigate when her son, Rayce Ogdahl, appeared in the hallway covered in burns to his neck.
The 16-year-old told his mother that his own necklace electrocuted him after the current came into contact with the exposed tip of a plug.
Shocking photos show Ogdahl’s neck and collarbone charred black, with the mark of his chain burned into his red, raw skin.
After ripping the chain from his neck, the cross and necklace left a three-inch burning hole in Ogdahl’s mattress.
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The teenager was rushed to the burn unit at Integris Health Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahomawhere he was admitted to the intensive care unit to help treat his injuries.
‘NORMAL NIGHT’
Davis, 38, who lives in Yukon, feels lucky she didn’t lose her son that night — and is asking others to remain vigilant around electrical cords, wires and plugs.
“It was a normal night and we had only been asleep for about an hour when we heard a noise and then we heard screams coming from Rayce’s room,” she said.
“We thought maybe he was playing video games and getting frustrated.
“Then I heard him shout ‘mom’ and my son was standing in the hallway.
“He said, ‘I was electrocuted. It was my necklace’. There were singed necks around his neck.”
“And the smell was horrible. The whole house smelled like burning hair and skin and electrical burns. We started calling 911 for an ambulance.
“He explained to us that he was in bed, rolled over to get comfortable when he heard something fall from the bed,” she recalled.
“He said he wanted to make sure his phone was still charging so the alarm would go off at school the next day.
“He said he leaned out of bed and as he did so, the cross collar around his neck came into contact with the prongs of an extension cord plug, which were only slightly exposed.
When it comes to your phone, there is no text message or notification that is important enough to have your phone by your bed. Anything can happen and Rayce is proof of that.
Danielle Davis
“He said he was completely conscious throughout the entire process and knew he was being electrocuted. Because everything was metal, it made a complete circuit around his neck. It was like a hot coil.”
The mother continued: “And he has burns on his hands from trying to rip the chain off his neck. It was a thick and heavy chain.
“The crazy thing was that, during the electrocution, he soldered part of his current to the charger. And the cross-shaped pendant on the chain melted three inches into the mattress through the sheets of his bed.
“He said this all happened in a matter of seconds and he visibly saw sparks coming out of his neck. He told me that his whole body was hurting and that he thought he was going to die.”
HUGE ACCIDENT
Ogdahl was rushed to hospital after the incident, where doctors told the family he had suffered “enough amps to kill him” – they monitored his heart function over the following days.
The teenager suffered second, third and fourth degree burns and will be scarred for life from the freak accident.
Davis, a housewife, said: “You can see the pattern of the necklace on her neck. It left a significant mark.
“He has a lot of scars. They’re talking about doing a skin graft, but Rayce doesn’t want that unless it’s medically necessary.
He was completely conscious throughout the process and knew he was being electrocuted. Since everything was made of metal, it made a complete circuit around the neck.
Danielle Davis
“It’s almost his entire neck that’s covered in scars. From his chin to his collarbone. The incident definitely made Rayce a lot more self-conscious. It was very eye-opening.
“We’re so grateful he was okay. He easily could have died that night. It was amazing that he was still conscious and still able to alert us. It would have been a different story.”
“When it comes to your phone, there is no text message or notification that is important enough to have your phone by your bed. Anything can happen and Rayce is proof of that,” she added.
“Pay attention to your cords, and I recommend everyone not to use extension cords.”
Disconnected cables can cause serious damage, especially when exposed to wet surfaces or metals.
Never leave an unplugged power cord exposed to open air if you have young children living in your home.
One safety approach parents can take to prevent damage from unplugged power cords is to purchase power plug covers.
Safety covers can be purchased online at Amazon or in-store at locations like Ace Hardware, HomeDepotor Lowe’s.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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