Kellan and Aurora died cuddled together. Photo / GoFundMe
Kellan and Aurora died cuddled together. Photo / GoFundMe
Warning: Distressing content
A devastated US mother has issued a warning to other parents after her 4-year-old twins died inside their wooden toy box after the pair climbed inside to play.
Sadie Myers made the tragic plea after her son Kellan and daughter Aurora suffocated inside the cedar toy box that housed their soft toys at the family home in Jacksonville, Florida.
The pair were put to bed by their father, Don Starr, on August 25 but got up during the night and climbed inside the box, settling into a cuddle.
But the box then became “soundproof” and “airtight”, their mother said on social media, and the pair ran out of oxygen as they slept, dying in each other’s arms.
When Myers woke the next morning she could not see the twins in bed and the family launched into a frantic search around the home before one of their older brothers made a tragic discovery.
“Mommy! I found them!” he said. “They are so silly just sleeping in the toy box.”
“‘I went to check and within a few seconds I knew something wasn’t right,” Myers wrote.
“But I also quickly realised it was already too late.”
Sadie Myers and Don Starr with their much-loved twins. Photo / GoFundMe
“So as they slept, all snuggled up together, they slowly ran out of oxygen within a couple of hours and passed away.
“They never even knew it was happening. There was no sudden gasp for air, it was a very slow transition from sleep to passing on…”
Myers said she assumed her twins wished each other goodnight before they drifted off, sharing their sweet farewell.
“Good night, Kell Kell,’ Aurora would tell her brother, as Kellan responded: “Night night, sissy.”
Myers shared her grief alongside a heartfelt warning to other parents about the hidden dangers of toy boxes.
She said she had previously tied the box shut, but her children begged her to open it so they could play with the toys inside
“I still made sure to have something tied on the latch so that the kids couldn’t lock each other in and so it wouldn’t latch shut if closed, unfortunately that didn’t prevent it from being airtight if closed,” she wrote.
“Something I did not know and I’m sure many others don’t know is that most wooden toy chests once closed are AIR TIGHT and also soundproof.
“I hope knowing this helps in some way, and I hope if you have a toy box like this that you destroy it immediately!”
Sadie Myers has issued a warning over the deaths of her twins Aurora and Kellan. Photo / GoFundMe
Myers said that she and her husband had been struggling with their children’s deaths and had sent their two older boys to stay with family to avoid further traumatising them.
“Me and Don are having an extremely hard time trying to make sense of this… not many will ever know the feeling of trying to not spend EVERY WAKING SECOND crying in agony.
“So hard that it makes you fall over in pain, but we are trying soooo hard to not let our boys see us this way.
“I have to believe that something in this universe chose them specifically, maybe to protect them from some future tragedy, or maybe because their souls were too perfect for this world.
“We were so very LUCKY to get the gift of having the twins with us for even a short time because they changed us all for the better and brought sooo much light and love into our lives, every second with those twins was full of laughter, silliness, dancing, silly questions and funny faces, games and jokes, happiness and LOVE!!!”
