Cured by a sneeze, man who had toy dart stuck up his nose for 44 years
HAVING suffered from a blocked nose and headaches for most of his life, Steve Easton put it all down to hayfever.
But after a massive sneeze aged 51, Mr Easton finally discovered the reason for his almost constant sniffles – he had had a toy dart stuck up one nostril for 44 years.
The mildly decomposed sucker tip – the size of a 1p coin – had been there since Mr Easton had inadvertently inhaled it while playing with a toy dart gun aged seven.
Mr Easton, of Camberley, Surrey, said: ‘I started a sneezing fit and it came out my left nostril.
‘I thought, “What’s this? Where the hell has this come from?” and pulled out this rubber sucker. I was completely blown away.’
When he told his parents of his discovery in late March, Mr Easton was shocked to learn they had taken him to hospital as a boy in 1971 after noticing a dart tip was missing and worrying he had inhaled it – only to be told by doctors there was nothing there.
His mother Pat, 77, said: ‘I took him to the hospital and they spent a lot of time looking for it but in the end they said perhaps it was a mistake.
‘I knew it wasn’t and it’s always worried me and then now it has suddenly shot out. It was weird. We are all shocked.’
Luckily for Mr Easton, the dart hasn’t caused any serious problems.
‘I bought it up with my doctor and he was amazed like everybody else but said there had been no harm done. It’s just one of those things,’ he said.
‘It had been there in my nasal cavity for 44 years. I was completely unaware that it was in my nose for that long. I feel no different now.
‘I wonder if there’s anything else up there.’