With the warm weather creating the perfect climate for spending time outside, grills everywhere are getting pulled out of winter storage. The Fiore family, however, wants to warn everyone before they start cleaning their grills to get ready for their next cookout.

The Fiore family had decided to fire up the grill and have burgers for dinner. Shortly after their 6-year-old son ate just one bite of his burger, he immediately felt sick. Anthony says it felt like a needle inside of him.

The youngster was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered that Anthony had swallowed a tiny metal wire bristle from a barbecue grill cleaning brush.

“We knew something was wrong and he was in extreme pain and crying,” said Anthony’s mother, Nadia. “From the time we had dinner to the time he had surgery it was about 12 hours.”

Doctors don’t have a surefire way of removing the thin wires from people’s throats when those tiny wires get swallowed, but luckily, Anthony’s doctors were able to remove the wire that was lodged in his throat. He didn’t develop an infection from the bacteria on the bristle either.

Surgeons have been encountering this exact type of situation for years. They say they can get the bristles lodged in their throat, stomach, or intestines and the situation has the potential to be fatal. “It makes a hole in the intestine and that could be life-threatening,” said Dr. Aziz Benbrahim. “We had a patient who had it in there for two week and he had severe complications and bigger surgery.”

It is recommended that you replace your grill cleaning brushes as soon as they appear matted and you should always use a brush with wires that are fastened around a metal backing rather than a wood or plastic brush. An even safer method is to avoid using the brushes all together.

A safer alternative for cleaning your grill is to light it and let it sit with the lid closed. This will loosen the stuck on food and then you can use a scrunched up piece of aluminum foil to scrub it away. Just be careful not to burn yourself.

The Fiore family hasn’t barbecued anything since the incident and Nadia says that Anthony is afraid to eat anything that has been cooked on a grill. We can’t say that we blame the poor little guy.

To learn more about what happened to Anthony and other people, check out the video below. Be sure to share this story with your family and friends in hopes that they won’t become the next victim.