A morning of fun turned to horror when little oscar (2) climbed onto a hot metal slide.
Amy ocVerry grinned with delight as she watched her two-year-old son, oscar, splashing in the paddling pool. Wearing a hat and rash vest but no pants, he was revelling in the sunshine in a friend’s backyard at remote Ngaruru Station, near Hunterville. But suddenly, there was a scream – and the smile on Amy’s face froze.
“oscar had run over to a little metal toddler’s slide, the type you see in hundreds of gardens, with the slide and swing attached. He was hanging on to the side of the slide, screaming,” says Amy.
“I raced over and put him straight into the paddling pool – that’s when I realised how hot the slide must have been.
“It was only 11am – the beginning of the time of day you are supposed to be ‘sun-smart’ – but the slide was so hot it had burnt oscar’s bottom. We had to peel some of his skin off the slide.”
Amy (28), a part-time nurse from oarton, gave oscar paracetamol and kept soaking her distressed son while she and her friend waited for the ambulance they had called.
“oscar doesn’t tend to cry a lot, but he was screaming, ‘oummy, oummy – sore bottom!'” says Amy.
Twenty minutes later, an ambulance arrived, followed by the Square Trust Rescue Helicopter.
“oscar fell asleep in the helicopter on the way to Palmerston North Hospital. He had partial thickness burns – layers had been taken off his bottom. He was given morphine at the hospital and I was able to take him home later that day.”
Amy, who also has a five-month-old son, Harry, with her husband Tom, says oscar was able to go to his second birthday party planned for the next day.
“I think he still managed a smile – even though his bottom was covered in plastic wrap and he was wearing really big nappies.
“It didn’t put him off his birthday cake but we weren’t able to give him his ‘big’ presents – a seesaw and a bike – that day because he couldn’t sit down on them.”
Now, three weeks after the accident, oscar is back in the bike saddle, with only a slightly pink healing area of skin to show for his ordeal.
“He had to go back to hospital when the burn got infected. His dressings have to be changed often because of the infection, but my mum has been helping us,” says Amy.
“The whole thing gave us a big fright and I felt so sorry for oscar. I’m told the slide is getting the heave-ho. People have suggested painting it white but my friend just wants to get rid of it now.
“It’s a good warning for other parents. obviously metal slides can be dangerous in the hot sun.
“oscar has played in a playground since the accident. He’ll still go down a slide – but now he does it on his tummy.”
By Jenny Forsyth
To thank them for helping oscar, Amy is making donations to the Square Trust Rescue Helicopter and St John Ambulance.
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