Skip to content

Raisin found in toddler's nose after three-month mystery

Handley Family Peyton Handley - smiling and lying on a hospital bed as two doctors examine her nose, shining a torch and inserting tweezers in her nostrilHandley Family
After GP examinations, Peyton's parents, Kirsty and Craig, took her to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow

A toddler who suffered sinus pain and lethargy for three months was found to have a raisin stuck up her nose.

Peyton Handley, of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, told her parents, Craig and Kirsty, that she had a pain and would scratch around the area.

But despite several GP appointments nothing was found until the three-year-old was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow.

Once there ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists managed to solve the mystery by fishing out a raisin that had been lodged in her nose.

Handley Family Two doctors in blue scrubs standing by hospital bed where Peyton is lying with a Barbie doll, waiting to be examinedHandley Family
Peyton's father, Craig, said ENT Specialists at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital were "amazing"

Mr Handley, a former army medic, told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that his daughter had been showing symptoms, like bad breath, for around three or four months

He said: "We put it down to being viral and kids catching everything.

"We had brought her to the GP who had pretty much dismissed our concerns that maybe there was something blocking her airway

"We did have a good look up with torches and we couldn’t see anything.

"But we haven’t got the right kind of instruments to look properly."

Handley Family Small black ball - a raisin - on a white napkin after being removed from Peyton Handley's noseHandley Family
The raisin was removed after being in the toddler's nose for three or four months

As Peyton's symptoms persisted, the toddler showed discomfort as she scratched her nose, further leading her parents to believe she had something trapped in her airway.

And when she was examined at the QEUH a specialist discovered the raisin "within five minutes".

Mr Handley said it was hard to tell when and how the raisin got into his daughter's airway.

He said: "You turn your back for two seconds and they pretty much do what they want at that point."

Handley Family Peyton Handley - a smiling toddler with curly brown hair wearing a pink minnie mouse sweatshirtHandley Family
Peyton, three, is now feeling much better

Mr Handley praised the specialists who treated his daughter.

He said: "The ENT guys at the Queen Elizabeth couldn’t have been any more amazing to be honest.

"They were totally focused on Peyton, kept her at ease and found exactly what they were looking for within the first five minutes.

"I think if other parents were to go through the same thing, with similar symptoms, I would take it further properly. Go see a proper ENT."

Peyton is now back to normal health and feeling "ten times the little girl she used to be".

Mr Handley joked: "But definitely no more raisins."