2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Antony Clements-Thrower)
A teenager had to relearn how to walk after he smashed into a car while riding his brother’s e-scooter to the shops, leaving him in a coma for several weeks. Ollie Paddington, 13, was riding with his friends when he collided with the vehicle, suffering several broken bones, a blocked artery in his neck and a brain injury. His mother, Gemma, rushed to the scene where her son was unconscious and bleeding from his mouth.
Ollie was rushed to Southampton General Hospital where he was placed in a medically induced coma. Ollie had to learn to walk, talk and eat again in the next 11 weeks in hospital - but has since made a miraculous recovery. Dad Shane said he blamed himself for the accident, as he allowed Ollie take the e-scooter.
He said: “Ollie said he was just going to go to the shop and it's just 100 metres down the road. So I said if you're going to be quick and just go straight there and straight back. "I absolutely regret letting him borrow it.
If I would've said no, the accident wouldn't have happened. I did blame myself at first but as Ollie got better that became easier. "You just think of an e-scooter like a bike but it's not, it's much more powerful.
” Gemma added: "We don't generally let him on it because he's only 13. My husband said if it's just to go to the shop and back, it'll be okay. They went for a ride around a park where we live and there's quite a hill.
As he came down the hill, he obviously realised that he had left it it too late to break and collided into the main road onto a car. "The car was doing around 30mph and he was probably doing 20mph, he collided onto the driver's side, went through the car side window and was knocked unconscious straight away. My whole world just stopped in that moment.
I was hysterical, my client had to drive me there. I got there and he was lying there with blood coming out of his mouth. I thought he was dead.
"When we got to hospital, they were concerned about his brain and made the decision to put him in an induced coma. He'd broken his jaw, fractured his collarbone. I could not stop crying, I was terrified about the future.
I didn't know if he'd wake up. I felt like our world came crumbling down. "I was terrified he was going to die.
I didn't know if I'd have to bury him. I was worrying if the worst was going to happen.” Ollie is due to be discharged next week after nearly three months in hospital where he had to relearn his basic motor skills again.
Gemma said: "He basically had to relearn everything again - how to walk, talk, feed himself, all because of that scooter. I don't think people realise how dangerous they are. "They reckon he'll make a 95% recovery, he still has a bit of fatigue and forgetting words.
That's something we'll have to live with, my son's still alive. "He tells me he's so grateful to be alive, it's made him appreciate life a lot more. He's an absolute miracle.
I nearly lost my child because of that e-scooter. 20mph was enough for Oliver to have a significant brain injury and for his life to be put on hold. "All of his friends have got rid of their e-scooters because of this.
They're death traps and they're not toys. Kids should not be on e-scooters, they are deadly.".
