A distraught couple are warning other parents about e-scooters after their 13-year-old son crashed into a car and suffered a horrific brain injury.
Shane and Gemma Paddington faced every parent’s worst nightmare in August when their youngest child, Ollie, was involved in an accident near their home, which left him having to learn how to walk and talk again.
Ollie had borrowed his sibling’s electric scooter to ride to the shop with friends when he collided with a moving car.
Gemma, who lives in Southampton, rushed to the scene to find her youngest unconscious and bleeding profusely from his mouth.
Fearing her son was dead, the 42-year-old mum-of-two accompanied Ollie to Southampton General Hospital where he was placed into a medically-induced coma.
Shane and Gemma Paddington faced every parent’s worst nightmare in August when their 13-year-old son Ollie was involved in an accident on an e-scooter near their home
Ollie (right) with his parents Gemma and Shane and older brother Joshua (second from left) before the horror crash
Ollie was left in a wheelchair following the collision and had to learn how to walk and talk again
Ollie suffered a brain injury as well as a broken jaw and fractured collarbone from the crash
Shane with his son, Ollie, in the aftermath of the accident which left him hospitalised for weeks
The teenager had to use a wheelchair while his body healed and he learned to walk again
Olle’s parents have said they ‘regret’ allowing him to borrow his brother’s e-scooter
The personal trainer was horrified to learn her teenager had suffered multiple broken bones, a blocked artery in his neck and a brain injury – and feared he might not survive.
But Ollie pulled through and learnt to walk, talk and eat again in the following 11 weeks in hospital – and has since made a miraculous recovery.
Devastated father Shane said he regrets giving Ollie permission to use the e-scooter for the five-minute journey to the local shops with his friend, never expecting it would end as it did.
Shane, 42, 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.’
Gemma was leading a personal training session when she received a phone call to say Ollie had been involved in an accident.
Frantic, the mum raced to the crash site and followed paramedics to Southampton General Hospital where Ollie was placed into a medically-induced coma.
On the road to recovery: Ollie learnt to walk, talk and eat again after 11 weeks in hospital
The youngster underwent intense physiotherapy to help him get back up and walking again
Heartwarming footage of Ollie shows the teenager striding along after recovering
‘Grateful to be alive’: The teenager said he appreciates life following his horrific ordeal
Gemma said: ‘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 was admitted to the ICU where he was placed on a ventilator after suffering a brain injury and an occlusion of his neck artery.
He is due to be discharged next week after nearly three months in hospital where he had to relearn his basic motor skills again.
Now, Gemma and Shane are urging other families to stop their children from riding e-scooters after nearly losing her own son to the ‘deathtraps’.
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 per cent 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.’
Shane added: ‘I’m really against e-scooters now. Don’t think it won’t happen to you because it can, it’s really dangerous. I think they should be banned. Our son could’ve easily died that day.’
