A mum whose son was left fighting for his life with severe head trauma after a horror crash has shared a car seat warning which she thinks saved his life.
Zoe, from Melbourne in Australia, and her 10-month-old boy Jax were in a horrific accident in July 2020, which left the youngster with a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain and torn ligaments in his neck.
Despite his awful injuries, Zoe believes the smash could have killed him if Jax hadn't been strapped into the car facing the rear of the vehicle.
Zoe - who says she's strapped Jax in backwards since he was born - shared the safety warning with first-aid service CPR kids as many families are heading out on long car journeys for the Easter weekend.
Speaking of the day of the crash two years ago, Zoe said: "I put Jax in his seat, did a pinch test on his straps, and then started to make my way to my parent's house just like I have done so many times in the past. Though this time we never made it there.
"Instead, the next thing I remember was men putting me in an ambulance and telling me that I had been in an accident. Jax was no where to be seen, and all they told me was that he was airlifted to the Royal children’s hospital in Melbourne.
"After having spent the night in the hospital myself, I finally got to go see him.
"Nothing could have prepared me for seeing my little man in that massive bed with so many tubes and wires everywhere.
"He had a fractured skull, a brain bleed, high pressures in the brain, and a torn ligament in his neck.
"It was an awful lot to process, I had no memory of what happened and suddenly I could lose my precious boy.
"It was touch and go for a while, but four surgeries, four weeks in hospital, and many tears later I was thankfully lucky enough to be able to take my boy home without any permanent issues."
Zoe said "not a day goes by" when she doesn't think of how her life might've been completely altered had she not known to "keep him rearward facing".
She said that after the crash doctors told her little Jax would not have survived had he been facing the front of the vehicle.
Zoe added: "So if you have already started forward facing your young child please reconsider.
"It is safest to keep your child rearward facing until they reach the forward-facing markers on your car seat (this could mean that you can keep your child rearward facing for up to 4 years in Victoria)."
CPR Kids said they spoke to Zoe last year for an update on Jax's condition.
Zoe told them: ""We had a MRI done recently and the neurosurgeon is very happy with it. There was nothing concerning to be seen, which was a massive relief!
"Jax is really just your average toddler now. He is developmentally behind in talking (non verbal atm) and was very delayed in walking. Was it because of the head trauma? We’ll never know. But he’s thriving in all other areas!
"I’m very grateful I still have him in my life and I can still hear him laugh and watch him grow. I consider myself very lucky that I knew to ERF, and I will continue to RF him until he’s maxed out every height marker."
CPR Kids wrote on Facebook : "We share this again now as an important reminder for everybody going away on road trips over Easter. Car seat safety is so important."
