Camberley man, 51, sneezes out childhood toy dart end Published duration 12 May 2015

image copyright Steve Easton image caption Steve Easton said he felt something come out of his nose and slowly unfurl itself

A 51-year-old man been reunited with part of a toy dart that he played with as a child - after he sneezed it out.

Steve Easton, from Surrey, was overcome by a sneezing fit and "a very uncomfortable sensation" before he felt something make its way into his left nostril and slowly unfurl itself.

After he retrieved it, Mr Easton was unable to work out what it was until he phoned his mother, Pat.

She knew instantly it was a rubber sucker lost more than 40 years ago.

Mr Easton was at home in Camberley playing a game on the internet when it happened.

"It was a very strange sensation so I retrieved it to examine it," he said.

The rubber sucker became an object of curiosity that he carried around with him because people were so interested, but has since been thrown out.

Mr Easton said he had grown up being able to smell and blow his nose and added: "It doesn't feel any different. Nothing has changed as far as I'm concerned."

"It's the length of time," he said. "I'm not the first person this has happened to, but 43 years - it's quite out there isn't it?"

image copyright Steve Easton image caption It was thought Mr Easton had swallowed the rubber part as a child - but X-rays could not find it

Mrs Easton, 77, who lives in Buckinghamshire, had taken Steve to hospital at the age of seven or eight, suspecting he had swallowed the sucker from the dart.

She said she had worried about it for years and was just glad it was out.

"I don't know what he did - you know what children are - whether he put it in his mouth, but he swallowed it.

"I was really worried so I took him to hospital and they X-rayed him and checked everything and they couldn't find it."

She said she had never known whether he had got rid of it naturally or whether it was still inside him.

"All these years later, it suddenly shot out," she said.

image copyright Steve Easton image caption Steve Easton said he grew up able to smell and blow his nose

Related Topics Camberley