A mother has shared footage of the moment she accidentally broke her child’s leg in a bid to raise awareness of the dangers of going down slides with young children.
Shona Keetley, 26, was on a day out with her partner James, 31, and their 18-month-old son George when the unfortunate accident occurred.
The family had been visiting Rand Farm Park in Lincolnshire, an adventure park for families with young children. Just before leaving, Shona decided to enjoy one last slide with her son, while James filmed it.
Holding hands, the pair set off from the top of the indoor slide, before the toddler manages to trap his foot underneath Shona’s leg.
You can watch it here:
In the harrowing video, a loud snap can be heard as George’s leg bends backwards.
Shona, from Cleethorpes, East Lincolnshire, shared the video via website Channel Mum in order to raise awareness of the dangers of accompanying children on slides.
She said:
We had spent the whole day there and were about to set off home but George started screaming because he wanted to go on the slide.
I told James I would quickly take him down. He was only 18-months-old at the time and I didn’t feel comfortable with him going down by himself.
I hadn’t even taken my shoes off because it was only meant to be a quick one.
Without thinking anything of it I put George between my legs and we went down together.
I didn’t even hear his leg snapping until I watched it back on the video.
At first, Shona admits she wasn’t sure George had broken his leg, and it wasn’t until later that they knew the extent of the damage.
Shona said:
I just thought he got was shocked at getting it caught. He started crying initially but stopped after a few minutes so I just thought he got his leg caught and nothing else.
He seemed perfectly fine as he was sitting in the pushchair pointing out things he wanted in the gift shop. We drove home and everything seemed fine.
It was only when I put him on the sofa that I realised something was seriously wrong.
He went to climb off but just collapsed and started crying.
He couldn’t stand up so we decided to rush him to the hospital to see what was wrong.
I still just thought it was a pulled muscle or a twisted ankle at this point.
After taking him to hospital, A&E doctors discovered George had broken his leg, and despite doctors reassuring her that ‘this is a really common injury with toddlers’, Shona said she still felt ‘like the worst mum in the world’.
Fortunately, toddler George made a quick recovery, and was only in a cast for two weeks. Shona, who is now pregnant with her second child, wants to warn others of the risks of usually innocent play areas.
She said:
I just don’t think people know about the risks.
I would just urge parents to watch this video and learn from my mistake.
I’m sure George will be back on the slide in no time.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.