Any parent will tell you that the instinct to protect your child kicks in the moment they arrive. It’s not something you learn or train for—it’s something that settles into your bones. You look at this small, helpless human and immediately understand that keeping them safe is now your full-time job, whether you’re awake, exhausted, or asleep with one ear permanently tuned for trouble.
But even the most vigilant parents know the world doesn’t always play fair. Accidents happen, freak situations unfold, and sometimes danger creeps in from the last place you’d expect. That’s the part no one tells you about parenting: you can’t foresee every threat, and you can’t bubble-wrap a child against every possibility. You just do your best and hope it’s enough.
Back in 2016, a mother named Jackie Fedro learned this lesson the hardest way imaginable. Her daughter’s story resurfaced recently, and it remains just as unsettling—and just as important—today.
Jackie had finally decided that her 13-year-old daughter, Gabbie, was ready for her first cellphone. It felt like a normal milestone. Her daughter’s schedule was getting hectic, full of practices, after-school commitments, and the usual whirlwind of teenage life. A phone felt like a tool for safety and communication—a way to stay connected, not a risk.
So that Christmas, Gabbie unwrapped her new LG d500. She was thrilled. It was her first real step into teenage independence. Jackie figured the biggest worry she’d face was Gabbie staying up too late texting friends or losing the charger under a pile of clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary.
But one afternoon, Jackie heard a scream from upstairs—a sound so sharp and panicked that every parental alarm bell in her body went off at once. Before she could even reach the bottom of the staircase, Gabbie came stumbling down, grabbing her neck, sobbing in pain.
“She was screaming hysterically,” Jackie later told reporters. “It’s the worst feeling in the world as a mother to watch your child cry in pain and not know how to help.” It took several minutes—long, terrifying minutes—before Gabbie could even speak clearly enough to explain what had happened.
She’d been using her phone while it was plugged into the charger. Something had gone wrong—terribly wrong. An electric shock traveled up the charging cable, went through the phone, and made contact with the metal necklace around her neck. The necklace essentially acted as a conductor. The shock heated the metal instantly and burned her skin in a ring around her throat.
It left second-degree burns. Real injuries. Real scars. The kind of wounds no parent ever imagines coming from something as ordinary as a teenager sitting on her bed using her phone.
Jackie’s shock turned into anger, confusion, and fear all at once. She’d never heard of something like this happening. Most parents haven’t. You buy a phone, you buy a charger, you plug it in—it shouldn’t become a hazard. But electricity doesn’t care who you are or how old you are. One bad connection, a faulty cable, an off-brand charger—whatever the cause—can turn an everyday object into something dangerous in seconds.
The burn wrapped almost fully around Gabbie’s neck, a painful reminder of how close the incident came to being far worse. Jackie said the injury left a permanent scar—a ring marking where the necklace had heated against her skin. And while the physical injury eventually healed, the emotional impact took longer. Gabbie was scared. Jackie was shaken. And the whole family was left with questions.
After the incident, Jackie publicly urged other parents to be more aware, not to scare them, but because she realized how little people talk about the hidden risks of electronics—especially for kids. She pointed out that so many teens and preteens use their phones constantly, often while charging them, often while wearing metal jewelry, sitting on blankets, or sleeping with the device next to them.
Most of us don’t even think twice about it. But maybe we should.
Electric shocks from phones are rare, but they’re not impossible. Faulty chargers, damaged cords, counterfeit accessories, or simple wear and tear can all increase the risk. And when you add metal jewelry into the mix—necklaces, bracelets, headphones—things can go south quickly. Electricity looks for the fastest path, and sometimes that path goes right through the one thing pressed against the skin.
Gabbie’s case became a wake-up call. Not a panic button, not a scare tactic—just a reminder that technology isn’t foolproof, and the little daily habits we don’t think about can have consequences. It pushed a lot of parents to double-check their kids’ chargers, talk about safe charging habits, and stop letting their kids fall asleep with their phones under their pillows.
For Jackie, the experience was something she’ll never forget. She’d bought a phone to make her daughter safer. Instead, it unintentionally put her in danger. But rather than hiding the story or brushing it aside, she chose to talk about it openly, hoping other families could avoid what hers went through.
Today, Gabbie’s story still circulates online, shared by parents who find it just as shocking as Jackie did the first time she saw her daughter stumbling down the stairs in pain. It’s a reminder of how quickly normal moments can flip into emergencies. It’s also a reminder that parenting isn’t about predicting everything—it’s about learning, adapting, and doing better when you know better.
Most of us have never heard a story like this. Most of us never even consider it a possibility. And that’s exactly why it matters.
These days, parents teach kids about internet safety, avoiding strangers online, protecting passwords, and keeping phones charged when they’re out. But maybe the conversation should also include the basics of safe device use: don’t use a damaged charger, don’t sleep with your phone charging under your pillow, don’t mix electronics with metal jewelry while plugged in.
Small things, but sometimes it’s the small things that make all the difference.
Jackie’s final message was simple: awareness can prevent accidents—especially the kind you never saw coming.
If nothing else, Gabbie’s story proves that even ordinary devices deserve a little respect—and that one quick warning could save another child from the same painful experience.
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