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Home › Entertainment

Child-Safety Tips Following Mike Tyson Accident | 05/26/2009 12:50 pm

Pediatrician Offers Tips on How to Avoid Accident That Befell Mike Tyson's Daughter

Mike Tyson’s four-year-old daughter, Exodus, accidentally became tangled in a cable hanging from a treadmill. Emergency-room pediatrician Dr. Lara Zibners provides us with childproofing tips to help prevent a similar tragedy in your home.
By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Dr. Lara Zibners

Update: Exodus Tyson passed away Tuesday at 11:45 AM The news that Mike Tyson’s four-year-old daughter accidentally tangled herself in a treadmill cord stunned many of the women at wowOwow. wOw reached out to emergency-room pediatrician and former assistant professor of pediatric emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, Dr. Lara Zibners, for ways caregivers can childproof their homes to prevent a similar tragedy.

"No matter what safety precautions a parent or grandparent does, you can’t 100% prevent every accident," said Dr. Zibners, author of If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be OK: How to Know if Your Child’s Injury or Illness Is Really an Emergency. "Exodus was four years old, which is typically older than the children we see in an accidental strangulation. Even if you think someone that age knows better, it’s wise to take these simple precautionary measures before letting any newborns or toddlers roam the home." 

Zibners says the two biggest strangulation risks in the home are caused by electrical cords and window cords, so here is how to minimize potential disasters:

1. To help childproof electrical cords: Electrical cords need to be out of the reach of children. Secure cords against the wall with either staples or tape, or place them under the carpet.

2. To help childproof window cords: The rule is you don’t want any loops. If you have two cords, the ends cannot be connected by a loop. They should be two free cords. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has been working with blind manufactures for years to make pull cords and inner cords safe for young children. (Click here to read a recent safety alert by the CPSC.) Old homes may contain horizontal window blinds built before 1995, which still have pull cords ending in loops, and should be repaired or replaced. Window cords should also be securely fixed from the ceiling to the floor to prevent children from wrapping it around them. Lastly, keep furniture and cribs away from the windows so a child can’t climb on furniture or stand on a crib to reach the string.

While our prayers are with Exodus and the Tyson family, we also hope you take these simple tips into consideration.

Read more about: Accident, Arizona, Dr. Lara Zibners, Exodus Tyson, Family, Home, Lifestyle, Mike Tyson, News, Society, Tragedy, Treadmill

9 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

HA BIBI
I would say….Don’t have cords hanging from any appliance including your blinds and most importantly, don’t leave younger children unattended and when they get quiet, even though in the house, check on them often.  
By HA BIBI on 05/26/2009 2:04 pm
judy smith
I am a retired Pediatric SW who worked with  parents after 2 of these accidents claimed their children. They were venetian blind cords which have now been corrected, but children are so fast and so curious that leaving them even for a few minutes can be disastrous. It will never end for these parents and even haunts me at times like this. 
By judy smith on 05/26/2009 2:06 pm
James the Game
And now that it’s almost summertime, keeping an eye on the toddlers at all times is especially important. I get so tired of hearing the "we just took our eye off Johnny for a moment and he drowned" stories every summer. If there’s any kind of water nearby, whether a full bathtub, a lake, a pool, or event a bucket full of water (one kid I read about tripped and got his head stuck in one and drowned), you can’t leave the child unattended for "a moment".
By James the Game on 05/26/2009 5:03 pm
Deena B.
I just learned that little Exodus died.  So very sad.  Yes, James and Ha Bibi are right, you simply cannot leave little ones unattended even for a moment.  That is not meant to blame anyone.  It’s just the way it is.
By Deena B. on 05/26/2009 7:34 pm
Amanda C

kids are terrifying little treasures… i can’t imagine being responsible for someone elses life.

i’ll stick to my pets - i can lock them up if i need to.

By Amanda C on 05/27/2009 4:59 pm
Rachel F

"i’ll stick to my pets - i can lock them up if i need to."

Haha, same here for me, for now at least. But, even there, you have to be careful — a lot of the same dangers for kids are dangers for pets. Case in point, I know a girl whose cat got caught in the venetian blind cord; she found it hanging there, very dead but still warm when she got home. :’(

By Rachel F on 05/28/2009 8:42 am
C jay

ALERT! The minute (Lithium) batteries in pre-schoolers toys now should be removed! Take them out, and throw them in the recycle.com bin. I knew this would happen and warned my adult offspring to protect their kiddos, and others … and it is happening - I just checked the ERs.

Once a Lithium battery is swallowed, with the body heat and moisture it begins eroding the tissue (burning it), and the only alternative is the preform a tracheostomy, and operate to get the damned thing out. Attempts are made to grab it with an Alligator (forceps) etc… but …

Why CU, the AAP, and the FDA have not come out to warn on this, is beyond me. Our ERs have data on it. Also, never have plastic fruits in your homes (the plastic grapes are a horror if swallowed and responsible for 7 little tots being now flat-lined for years b/c of them).

It took me eons to get the Toy Manufacturers Association to remove the steel weaving hook from the weaving loom kit, and now this. Who is not watching?

Four years ago I cautioned a son (in his athletic room) to "crawl and creep on the floor to see what the children can see, and remove or seal up anything they can get to…" Voila! It was his super treadmill’s circuit box - the wires were visiblie from the floor, looking up. He encased it tightly!

Pass this on.

By C jay on 05/27/2009 11:43 pm
C jay

ps: Place all drugs, RXs, supplements, chemicals, nail enamel, etc. in an overnight luggage case that locks, and put an additonal lock on it as well. Do not relax on that as your children get older - pre-teens consumer RXs et al in high does now.

By C jay on 05/27/2009 11:46 pm
Shelly Skilton

"Secure cords against the wall with either staples or tape, or place them under the carpet."  As any fire safety expert will tell you, please do not run electrical cords under the carpet!  Electrical cords run under carpeting are subject to increased wear and tear from foot traffic and are prone to fraying and short circuits, and can possibly set the carpet on fire.

By Shelly Skilton on 05/28/2009 11:59 pm