A mum is warning parents about the dangers of multiple children using a trampoline after her six-year-old son suffered a double leg break
A mum claims her schoolboy son will have to relearn how to walk – after breaking his leg on a trampoline when a ‘heavier girl’ sent him flying. Lucas McVeigh, six, was playing at another child’s house on May 9 and followed his friend and a nine-year-old girl onto the trampoline.
Just 20 seconds into standing on it, the girl did a ‘hard’ bounce that sent Lucas flying into the air due to their weight difference. He says he then came crashing down and heard a ‘crack’ as he landed oddly on his right foot. Lucas’s mum Jessica Kerr said he had only been playing out for 30 minutes when she got the dreaded phone call about the accident.
The 29-year-old rushed over to the house and was ‘distraught’ when she found her son whimpering, pale and falling in and out of consciousness. After bundling him into the car to take him to their nearest hospital, an X-ray confirmed he had ‘completely snapped’ his fibula and tibia.
Lucas then had to have his bones manually reset by a doctor before a full leg cast was put on his right limb. Jessica says he is too scared to ever go on a trampoline again.
The beautician is now raising awareness about Lucas’ accident to warn other parents about the dangers of child weight differences and having multiple bouncers on a trampoline at one time. Jessica, from Portadown, Northern Ireland, said: “There were three of them on the trampoline.
“The little girl on the trampoline was nine and Lucas was only six so there was a weight difference. Lucas has never been on a trampoline before. I got a phone call to say I needed to come and get him as he had really hurt himself.
“He had been lifted off the trampoline and brought him back into (the) house. He was in and out of sleep due to the pain he was in. I knew straight away it was something bad, I was distraught.
“He went pale and was whimpering. His teeth started to chatter from the adrenaline and so I knew straight away there must have been a break.
“Both of his bones were completely snapped. The doctor cut his trousers to look at the leg before the x-ray and you could clearly see the leg was disfigured. His leg was like a snake. It was sideways and you could tell it was broken straight away.”
Jessica has been told Lucas will have to wear this cast for six weeks before getting a smaller cast fitted for another six weeks. He will then have to undergo physio to help him learn to walk again as he is currently in a wheelchair.
Jessica said: “He has been in a wheelchair the whole time so has had no movement in either leg and will need physio to help him learn how to walk.
“Lucas won’t go on a trampoline again. Even when we try to talk about what happened, sometimes he says, ‘Mummy I don’t want to talk about it, it makes me feel weird’.
“I think this is him remembering the pain he was in and he gets uneasy. He said he had only been on the trampoline for about 20 seconds when it happened.
“All he remembers is that the girl jumped and bounced really hard, he went flying into the air and was scared and when he came down his foot went inwards and he heard the crack.”
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents states that 60% of injuries occur when more than one person is on a trampoline. They also say the person weighing less is five times more likely to be injured and garden trampolines are not suitable for children under six years old.
Following Lucas’ accident, Jessica is now raising awareness about the potential dangers to avoid it happening to anyone else. Jessica said: “Everyone needs to be educated on what can happen. You should only let one child on a trampoline at a time. Anything more than that and it’s going to end in disaster.
“Ensuring you have a safety net and it’s zipped up is also important. Most trampoline accidents happen when there are two or more bouncers at the same time.
“The biggest risk is when trampoline users have different weights so let children take it in turns and you should avoid adults and children jumping at the same time.”

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