Parents Warned About Dangers of Window Blind Cords After Strangulation Death of Young Girl

Parents have been warned about the dangers of window blind cords after a three-year-old girl died last month after accidentally twisting the cord around her neck.

Elsie Mahe, daughter of American footballer Reno Mahe, had been playing with a friend in her family’s home in Utah on November 22 when the accident happened.

Her mum, Sunny performed CPR on her before the paramedics arrived on the scene.

Elsie was taken to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, but was later pronounced brain dead.

The family told TODAY that they don’t know how the accident happened or how long Elsie was caught in the blind cord before she was found by an adult.

A week after the accident, Reno and Sunny Mahe announced that Elsie had passed away in a moving Instagram post on November 29. The couple captioned the emotional drawing by Elise’s older sister Evie, with:

“Our Elsie girl has officially been released to heaven at least from a worldly, paperwork stand point. Her second neurological death exam was also positive for brain death.

“We feel peace and we are again so grateful for the privilege of being Elsie’s parents.”

Jenny Roberts, a spokesperson for the family, said that they plan to donate Elsie’s organs. “With her death and the donation of her organs, the doctors have told them there is a possibility that she can save seven or eight lives,” she said. “The fact that they might be able to help other parents and other children avoid a similar fate, I think that is comforting.”

Speaking to TODAY Parents, Kim Dulic, CPSC spokesperson, said that window-covering cord strangulation is a persistent but hidden danger. She added that children can become unconscious within 15 seconds of becoming entangled in a blind cord, which often happens in rooms where parents feel their children are safe.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), two children die in Australian homes every year as a result of non-compliant corded blinds and curtains. Most of these deaths occur in children under the age of three. In the US, it’s one child a month.

Source: Essentialbaby.com.au