Kayla Campbell is speaking out in the hopes of preventing other kids from getting hurt on slides.
The Salem, Virginia-based mother of two and her husband Matthew took their children — Emelyn, 14 months, and Joseph, 6 — to Longwood Park on July 13, where things took an unexpected turn after Matthew and Emelyn rode down a slide together (the tot’s “favorite thing to do,” according to her mom).
Avideo Campbell sharedto Facebook shows the exact momentthe little girl’s injuryoccurs, about halfway down the slide when her left foot becomes snared between the side of the structure and Matthew’s leg. A popping sound can be heard right before she begins to cry out.
“PSA: Be careful going down slides with little ones on your lap!” Campbell captioneda Facebook postincluding the video and photos of Emelyn’s X-ray, initial wrappings and subsequent hot-pink cast.
“Tonight, she had on some cheap rubber shoes I’d picked up from Walmartthat resemble Crocsbecause they’re all she’ll keep on her little feet,” she explains. “As they went down the slide, the shoes gripped the side and her foot got caught between her dad’s leg and the plastic edge.”
Courtesy Kayla Campbell
Campbell revealed that Emelyn’s accident “resulted ultimately in a spiral fracture all the way through her tibia” and that she initially was in a splint before getting her cast, which she is expected to have to wear for a little over four weeks total.
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“And just an FYI: I’m not blaming the shoes. I’m not blaming the slide. I’m not blaming anyone or anything for this accident because it’s just that: an ACCIDENT. There’s a chancethis would have still happenedwith different/no shoes. The ER just mentioned that the rubber caused more friction than most other shoes because of their grip, hence my encouragement to use extra caution if your child wears them,” she concludes.
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“And none of my other mom friends had any idea this was a possibility,” Campbell added to WDJB7. “If I can helpsomeone else not go through this, this just freak accident.”
The incident echoes that of Heather Clare, a mother of three who took her 1-year-old twins to a park in Huntington, New York, in 2015, where daughter Meadowsuffered multiple fractures to her legwhen they rode down a slide together. (The little girl has since made a full recovery.)
“When we got down to the bottom of the slide, she was crying bad,” Clare told PEOPLE of the injury, which occurred just three days after Meadow took her first steps. “It was terrible, especially feeling like I put her in that position. Itwas completely avoidable.”
source: people.com
