Kentucky Man Shares Cautionary Grilling Tale After Surprise in Hamburger Leads to Emergency Surgery

With grilling season in full swing, there are several pro tips to keep in mind. Like making sure to pre-heat, not using lighter fluid to fire 'er up, and starting with a clean grill. After reading about the terrifying experience my friend Casey Taylor had this past weekend, we definitely need to add an additional rule to the list.

The Taylor family was visiting some friends in Michigan and they decided to grill for dinner one night. As Casey swallowed a bite of his grilled hamburger, he immediately felt something poke the inside of his throat!  Casey said," I knew within a split second what had happened. It was very distinct. Not much else feels like a metal barb in your throat,"

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Ironically, Casey actually learned about the dangers of cleaning grills with metal bristle brushes a couple of years ago and threw his own away. "I grill out for a lot of people all the time so I never wanted that to happen to someone I fed," he shared. That helped him determine what could have been causing the pain in his throat. Sure enough, the grill at his friends' house had been cleaned with a wire grill brush. Lordy, I bet they felt terrible!

They quickly went to the emergency room where the little wire bristle was found via X-Ray and surgically removed.  Thankfully, Casey made it through just fine other than a pretty awful sore throat, because it could have been so much worse.

The moral of the story here is that we all need to channel our inner Joan Crawfords and say "No wire bristles EVER!!" I actually put together a list of summer hacks a couple of weeks ago with a good alternative to using a wire brush when cleaning your grill. It is just not worth the risk.

READ MORE: Make This Summer the Best Ever With These 10 Life Hacks!