It was meant to be a simple Friday treat — a small, strawberry-flavored slushy after school. But within an hour, four-year-old Albie was fighting for his life.

Beth Green from Warwickshire will never forget the moment her son’s head began to drop in the car. “He kept saying he was tired,” she recalled. “Then he started clawing at his face… and suddenly went limp.” Panic set in as her little boy stopped responding. By the time they reached the hospital, doctors were fighting to bring him back. His blood sugar had plummeted to life-threatening levels. “If we hadn’t brought him in, he would have died,” a doctor told the terrified parents.

The cause stunned everyone — glycerol, a common ingredient in slushy drinks meant to keep them from freezing. At high levels, it can cause shock, seizures, or even unconsciousness in young children. “He’d had slushies before,” Beth said, “but never a reaction like this. I was angry — these drinks are sold everywhere to kids.”

Today, Beth wants the age limit raised and parents warned. Another mother in Scotland nearly lost her three-year-old the same way. Two families, one terrifying pattern — all from a drink most parents think is harmless.