For parents, their children getting hurt is one of their worst nightmares and one mum has shared her story of how she experienced just this when she and her 10-month-old son were involved in a nasty car accident.
Zoe ten Broek, from Melbourne, Australia, has revealed how she and her son Jax were going to visit her parents back in July 2020, a journey which should have only taken 20 minutes.
However they never made it to their destination, as on their way, they were involved in a collision and Zoe's baby suffered serious head injuries - including a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain and a torn ligament in his neck.
The parent opened up about the accident to 7news.com, explaining how while she felt 'helpless' after the accident, the way her son's car seat was facing and a 'pinch test' she conducted when strapping him in, helped save his life.
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Zoe told how she'd been strapping her son, Jaxon, into his car seat facing the back of the vehicle ever since he was born, as she'd read that the rearward-facing method could reduce injuries in crashes.
She credits this decision - as well as the 'pinch test' when doing up his seatbelt, to ensure the straps of his car seat were secured and fitted correctly - with her son still being alive today.
According to safekids.org, the pinch test involves pinching the straps (or harness) at the shoulder, once your baby is buckled in.
They explain: "If the harness is snug, your fingers will slide off the webbing. If the harness is loose, you will be able to pinch the webbing between your fingers."
The mum, who was 21 at the time, says she remembers little of the accident, only ending up in an ambulance afterwards.
She was then separated from her son as she was taken to The Royal Women's Hospital, while Jaxon was airlifted to The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Zoe's mum went with Jaxon and after spending a night in hospital, Zoe was finally able to go and see him herself.
She recalls that nothing could have prepared her for the sight of her baby in the hospital bed, with tubes and wires everywhere.
"His poor face looked nothing like it used to," she said. "Everything was swollen, from his eyes to his fingers, to his poor little toes.
"It was an awful lot to process, I had no memory of what happened and suddenly it all hit me at once that I could lose my precious boy any second."
One of the things Zoe found hardest was not being able to give her son a hug.
Jaxon spent one month in the hospital and underwent four major surgeries during that time the mum just wanted to 'hug it all better'.
Thankfully, the tot was eventually allowed to go home - without any permanent issues.
Now, 19 months later, Zoe says she feels the outcome for her son would likely have been very different if she hadn't put him in the car the way she did.
"If I hadn’t known to keep him rearward facing, he definitely wouldn’t be here the doctors have told me," Zoe, who is now 23, admits.
The mum says she took it upon herself to do plenty of research about car seats and which direction they could face when she was pregnant.
But it upsets her that many parents don't know enough about car safety and that current guidelines in Australia state that children can be placed in front-facing seats from six months old.
Zoe hopes her story will instead encourage parents to keep their little ones in rear-facing seats for “as long as possible”.
"It made me rather angry. Had I listened to the law instead of the research my 10-month-old would have been instantly internally decapitated," she adds.
"On the flip side, it also made me feel extremely lucky. Every day I’m thankful that I still get to create more memories with my little man."
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