Incredible 3-Year-Old Survives Eating 37 Rare-Earth Magnets

Payton Bushnell is the adorable three-year-old you see above. She's also the incredibly fortunate young lady who swallowed an astonishing 37 (THUR-TEEE SEVV-UNNN) rare-earth magnets lived to blabber about it.

Payton ate the balls—which came from a buckyball set—one by one, until they collected in her stomach and formed the necklace shape you see in the photo. They eventually started snapping onto each other in her intestines. The doctors came to her parents to tell them that "we have to cut your daughter open," which has got to be just about the most terrifying thing a parent can hear. Surgery on such a young patient is dangerous, but the magnets had torn three holes in Payton's lower intestines, and one in her stomach.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success, and again, Payton is making a full recovery. But my goodness, you turn your back for one second and they're running off and eating three dozen magnets. I blame Magnus. [KPTV via SF Gate via Brian Lam]