A veterinary technician who felt “guilty” and “embarrassed” when her son had to undergo emergency surgery to remove magnets, metal screws, and yarn from his stomach wants to initiate more open dialogue about pica to help others who may have the condition. Shannon Litchfield, 48, who lives in Albany, Oregon, USA, believes her son, Cameron, 11, has pica – an eating disorder where a person compulsively swallows non-food items.
Although Cameron has not been formally diagnosed, Shannon said he has always chewed on things, such as the collar of his shirt, straws, crayons, pencils, rubber and pieces of Lego. “It’s always been a part of Cameron. We’ve always been dealing with it,” she said.
Shannon and her husband Jason, 46, who works at Wells Fargo Bank, thought the chewing was “normal”, as children are “curious” and often put objects in their mouths. The couple later noticed screws disappearing from around the house and magnets being removed from the shower curtain, but since Cameron was young and enjoyed deconstructing things, they “didn’t really think too much about it”.
