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When Trista Hamsmith first heard her baby cough that October morning, she never imagined it would be the start of a nightmare. Reese, her sixteen-month-old daughter, was bright, curious, and full of giggles that filled the house with life. She was the sparkle in Trista’s chaos, the laughter in every noisy day.
At first, it seemed like a common cold — a stuffy nose, a soft wheeze, a restless night. The pediatrician diagnosed croup and prescribed steroids. But fate had another plan.
Not long after the visit, Trista noticed a small button battery missing from a remote control. Panic set in. A Google search confirmed her fears: coughing, wheezing, chest discomfort — symptoms of battery ingestion. She and her husband, Chris, rushed Reese to the emergency room. X-rays revealed a shiny, deadly disc lodged high in her esophagus.
Surgery removed the battery, but the chemical burns had already begun. Button batteries react with saliva, creating tissue-destroying burns within hours. Reese was sent home fragile but smiling. Her parents followed every instruction, yet healing never came.
A CT scan revealed a devastating fistula connecting Reese’s trachea and esophagus. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t breathe properly, and was placed on a ventilator. For six long weeks, Reese fought in a hospital room filled with machines, whispered prayers, and endless waiting. Trista could no longer hold her daughter safely, only sit by her side, singing lullabies to a sleeping child who might never wake.
On December 17, 2020, the machines went silent. Reese was gone. Trista held her daughter one last time, whispering through her tears.
From that heartbreak, Trista built a mission. She founded Reese’s Purpose, a nonprofit raising awareness about button battery dangers. She lobbies for safer products, speaks at schools and hospitals, and helped establish National Button Battery Awareness Day. Her petition for federal safety standards gathered nearly 80,000 signatures.
“Every day we wait, another child could swallow a battery,” she says. “If someone had spoken out before, maybe my Reese would still be here.”
Today, Trista shares Reese’s story with love and urgency, hoping no family experiences the same loss. Behind every law she fights for, every speech she gives, is Reese’s legacy — a tiny life that changed the world.
“She was meant to change the world,” Trista whispers. “And she did.”