Camila Romero remains in critical condition after her parents said the battery burned a hole in her esophagus.
REDLANDS, Calif. — A 4-year-old Redlands girl is fighting for her life at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital after swallowing a button battery that her parents said burned a hole in her esophagus, leaving her in a medically induced coma after emergency treatment and surgery this month.
Camila Romero’s case has drawn attention because it combines a family’s account of a fast-moving medical emergency with the well-documented danger of button battery injuries in young children. Her parents, Cassandra Tafolla and Hugo Romero, say they still do not know exactly how or when she swallowed the battery. By the time doctors found it on an X-ray, they say, it had already caused serious internal damage. The immediate stakes are stark: Camila remains in critical condition, more surgery is expected, and her family says the outcome is still uncertain.
The family’s account, shared publicly this week, describes a frightening stretch in which Camila first appeared to be sick with what seemed like a feverish illness. Tafolla said the child had a fever for about a week when the family first sought medical care. At first, the symptoms were believed to fit a virus, according to the parents’ retelling of what they were told. Tafolla later asked whether it could be pneumonia and pressed for an X-ray. That scan, she said, revealed a small button battery lodged in Camila’s throat. By then, the damage was severe. “Something so small caused something so big,” Tafolla said in a televised interview. Doctors removed the battery, but not before it burned through part of her esophagus. The family says Camila has now spent about two weeks in a medically induced coma as doctors work to control the injury and protect her airway and lungs.
Her parents have given the clearest public description so far of the extent of the damage. Tafolla said the battery “burned a hole” in Camila’s esophagus and that the injury sits dangerously close to the point where the lungs branch off. She said the gap between the perforation and the lungs was about one-eighth of an inch, underscoring how narrowly doctors may be working around further complications. Romero said the family had never heard of button batteries before this happened, and both parents have said they do not know where Camila found one. That unanswered question remains central to the story. Publicly available accounts have not identified the toy or household item the battery may have come from, and hospital officials have not released an independent medical summary. What is known is that Camila underwent an initial operation and is expected to need another surgery to close the hole in her chest, according to her family. Her father said he is trying to stay strong as they wait for the next stage of treatment.
The case also reflects a broader medical hazard that pediatric specialists have warned about for years. Button batteries are common in remote controls, toys, watches, calculators, musical greeting cards and other small electronics found in many homes. Children’s safety experts say the greatest danger is not only choking. When a button battery becomes stuck in the esophagus, saliva can complete an electrical circuit and trigger a chemical reaction that burns tissue quickly. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says severe injury can happen in as little as two hours and can lead to perforation, airway injury, vocal cord paralysis or erosion into major blood vessels. The hospital says these batteries are swallowed more than 3,500 times a year in the United States. That wider context helps explain why Camila’s case has resonated far beyond Redlands: it is both an intensely personal emergency and an example of a small household object causing catastrophic harm in a short amount of time.
For now, the procedural path ahead appears to center on critical care, additional surgery and close monitoring for complications. The family says doctors have already removed the battery, but removal does not end the risk in these cases because tissue damage can continue to evolve after the object is taken out. Camila is expected to undergo another surgery tied to the earlier operation, and her parents have said they are waiting for doctors to determine how well her body can recover from the burn and the perforation. No public court filing, police announcement or regulatory investigation had emerged by Saturday, suggesting the case remains, at least publicly, a medical emergency rather than a criminal or consumer-product enforcement matter. Whether any review later examines the source of the battery, the product it came from or the timeline before diagnosis is still unknown. In the near term, the next measurable milestones are Camila’s response to treatment, the planned follow-up surgery and any update from her doctors or family on whether she can be brought out of the coma safely.
As the family waits inside the hospital, relatives and supporters have been trying to build help around them from outside. A fundraiser organized by Andre Delgado says the money will go toward hospital-related costs, lost wages, travel, food and whatever recovery needs come next. The public page describes Camila as “bright” and “loving,” language that has been echoed in coverage of the case and in posts circulating online. By Saturday, the fundraiser had drawn hundreds of donations and was nearing its stated goal, a sign of how quickly the story has moved through local and national outlets. Still, the emotional center remains the same: two parents at a bedside, trying to make sense of how an ordinary object ended in a life-threatening injury. “I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Romero said in the television interview, turning a private crisis into a public warning about a danger many families may not recognize until it is too late.
As of Saturday, March 21, Camila remained hospitalized in critical condition at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital, with her family awaiting the next surgery and further word from doctors on whether her condition is stabilizing in the days ahead.
Author note: Last updated March 21, 2026.