Jakob Breaks Arm Clean in Half
In a freak accident Thursday evening, Jakob snapped both his radius and ulna -- the two bones of the forearm -- clean in half. The accident happened at Airtime Trampoline centre, where Jakob and his sister were just starting trampoline lessons.
Only minutes into the lesson, Jakob lost his balance after performing a standard "seat-drop" manoever. He went forward, and it is believed he came down on the edge of the trampoline where it wasn't so springy. The position combined with the momentum were enough to break the bones in half.
With an arm bent wildly in the wrong direction, Jakob was transported by ambulance to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he was put under while doctors in the Trauma Unit attempted to reset his arm manually. Luckily, this appears to have been a success, and surgery was avoided, although it won't be 100% certain until a week or two has passed.
Mom, who was on the scene when it happened, remained calm and collected. After calling the ambulance, the trampoline coach immediately made another call. "She's not answering," the coach said. Jennifer asked her who she was calling and she replied "his mother." "I'm his mother," Jennifer replied. Oh.
The trampoline coach did a good job keeping Jakob calm while waiting the half hour for the ambulance to arrive. (Does it usually take that long?) This was not an easy task, since she started with a very upset person who was running from the scene screaming "NO! NO!! NOOOOO!!!" (Imagine being nine and seeing your arm like that.)
When the accident occured, all other bouncing immediately stopped, and the kids were eventually evacuated to upper waiting area. As parents were arriving to collect their kids, or bring their kids for the next lesson, they saw Jakob being removed on a stretcher with his difficult-to-look-at arm: bent like Harry Potter's when he had his arm bones magicked away. Except in Jakob's case, the two ends of one of the bones were "tented" upward, making the unnatural position permanent, and another of the bones kind of poked out the back.
This unfortunate accident will definitely put a crimp in Jakob's saxophone, piano, and swimming lessons. Jakob learned to play the sax in four lessons at the end of the summer, so he could join the senior band at school. Hopefully he will still be able to make a go of it.
