‘Summer's death won't be in vain'

Andrea has fought hard to ensure better safety standards

- Brigid Auchett

For Queensland mum Andrea Shoesmith, life has been “hell on earth” since the death of her beloved four-year-old daughter Summer in 2013.

The little girl died after swallowing a button battery and since then her grieving mother has thrown herself into campaigning to ensure no other Aussie child suffers the same tragic fate. “I didn’t want this to happen to another family,” Andrea tells Woman’s Day from her home in Noosa.

“Summer died and we can sit back and do nothing, or we can stand up and say something needs to change.”

Last December, Andrea and other parents who’d lost children the same way celebrated a win – the Federal Government announced it was introducing new safety standards for button batteries and products containing them.

The 50-year-old admits she was lost for words after receiving the call that helped her feel Summer’s death had not been in vain.

“I was a bit numb at first. I couldn’t believe it,” Andrea says. “We were never going to give up, not for our little girls – we fought and we won.”

The world-first laws state consumer products must have secure battery compartments, child-resistant packaging for batteries and product warnings. Manufacturers have until June 21, 2022 to make changes.

The single mother-of-two was first aware that Summer was feeling unwell two weeks before she passed away. Summer had complained of a sore throat and had a high temperature, and a local GP diagnosed her with the parasitic infection giardia.