Stunned parents pull FEATHER from baby's neck from what they thought was a pimple

Mya Whittington's parents became concerned after an area below her jaw started to swell up

Doctors initially diagnosed an infection but then plucked a two-inch-long black feather that was lodged under her skin

Doctors believe Mya inhaled the feather, which then pierced the inside of her cheek and, over time, her body forced it out

A seven-month-old girl was taken to hospital Saturday by concerned parents after an area just below her jaw swelled up to the size of one and a half golf balls with a pimple on top.

After initially diagnosing an infection, doctors were shocked when they discovered a two-inch-long black feather had got lodged underneath Mya Whittington's skin.

Aaron and Emma Whittington first took their nearly seven-month-old daughter to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, Kansas on Saturday after the area below her jaw swelled up.

The marked area on Mya's neck shows the size of the original swollen infected area caused by a feather that she ingested from a pillow Right for plucking: A two-inch-long black feather emerges from Mya's swollen face

'They thought it was a swollen gland,' Aaron Whittington said.

The hospital administered an antibiotic and sent the family home.



Mya's grandmother took her back to the hospital after a 'pimple' appeared on the swollen area, which had now grown to the size of about one and a half golf balls, Aaron Whittington said.



'She looked like Quasimodo,' her father said.

The physician suspected a staph infection on her lymph nodes.



A doctor broke the pimple to try to drain it and drew marks on her face to measure whether the swelling increased. The intravenous antibiotics were continued.



On Monday, the doctor on rounds scraped off a scab that formed. After the doctor left, the Whittingtons noted what appeared to be a string or stick emerging from the spot. They left it alone, since the doctor hadn't done anything to it, Aaron said.

The two-inch feather pulled from Mya's neck which made its exit through a swollen infected pimple on her neck Brave baby: The swelling on Mya's neck would have caused an immense amount of pain, but the brave girl cried mostly only when nurses have poked her



When Mya's pediatrician visited later that evening, however, she asked what it was. She then put on a pair of gloves and plucked a two-inch-long black feather from the swollen area of the child's neck.



They suspect, Whittington said, that the baby swallowed or inhaled the feather, which apparently pierced the inside of her cheek or throat and then, over time, her body forced it out the other way.



The Whittingtons had a down pillow on their bed, but Mya wasn't normally on it, and it's been in the couple's laundry room for months, Emma Whittington said.



It's headed for the trash.

Mya Whittington with her father Aaron, who said his daughter looked like Quasimodo when her face was swollen

'She's been pulling on the left side of her face for a couple of months,' Emma said, but she suspected it was teething or an ear infection.



In her 20 years on the pediatric floor at the hospital, RN Sandra Mathis has never seen the like, though she recalls a child coming in once with hairbrush bristles stuck in its tonsils that had to be removed, from chewing on a brush.



The Whittingtons' doctor indicated the swelling had to be causing an immense amount of pain, Emma said, but Mya cried mostly only when nurses have poked her.



Her ordeal isn't over yet, however. The swollen area has a hard knot in it about four centimeters in size. If the knot doesn't break up on its own, Mya is headed for surgery in Wichita to remove it.



