A seven-year-old girl was rushed to hospital after injecting herself with her mother's weight loss jab, believing it would help with a stomach ache. Jessa Milender, now eight, took 60 per cent of a prefilled GLP-1 injector pen, the drug more widely known as Ozempic or Mounjaro, used to treat Type 1 diabetes and aid weight loss.
The incident occurred in December 2024 in Indiana, US. Jessa told WHAS-11: 'I thought it was stomach medicine. My mum takes it and I thought it helped her with her stomachaches.' Her mother, Melissa, called the poison centre immediately and rushed her to hospital, where she was treated for dehydration and vomiting.
After initial symptoms subsided, Jessa was discharged but the vomiting returned. Melissa said: 'I should have never let them discharge her.' Jessa became so weak that Melissa had to carry her to the bathroom. She was readmitted and did not eat for six days. Medical records showed serious concerns about her kidneys, including renal shutdown, as she had stopped urinating.
Melissa said: 'We as a family gathered around her, because she was just laying there like lifeless really.' Jessa eventually made a full recovery. Her mother now keeps the medication in a locked box, bought the day of the overdose. 'God protected us from the worst and I firmly believe that,' she added.
