A mum was told her schoolboy son's foot may need to be amputated when it was impaled on a vape pen - after he stamped on it while out with pals. Harley Bennett was out with friends when he found a discarded Elf Bar vape pen on the ground underneath a subway.
The 13-year-old stood the vape up vertically and stomped on it in an attempt to crush the stick 'like a Coke can'. But instead of smashing it, the disposable e-cigarette pierced through his thick-soled trainer, sock and skin.
The teen was left in agony with his foot impaled on the four-inch pen, as it speared straight through his flesh. After receiving a call from Harley's friend, his panicked mum Samantha Robinson, 34, rushed to the scene and took him to hospital.
There, he was hooked up to an antibiotic drip and given painkillers before undergoing a two-hour operation and skin graft surgery the following day. During a check-up a fortnight later a surgeon mentioned to cleaner Samantha there was a high possibility that Harley could lose his foot as a result of infection in his cracked heel bone.
(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
Now, the family are speaking out about Harley's ordeal to raise awareness about the importance of disposing vapes correctly. Harley said: "I wasn't thinking, I don't know how to explain it. I just stamped on it and it just went straight into my foot. It was very painful.
"The recovery process was very stressful. The moment where the doctor told me I could lose my foot was very, very stressful. The pain is much better now."
Samantha said: "It was really shocking. I felt sick, scared, I didn't know what was going on. The hospital hadn't come into contact with anything like this before. It was the first they'd seen of it.
"It must have been very shocking for them as well. I had all the nurses asking to look at the pictures I had because they were so gobsmacked. The size and width of the puff bar went the majority of the way in, and jammed into the top of the heel bone, which cracked it. It was a clean cut of flesh gone.
The vape in Harley's foot (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
"Harley was actually quite calm, probably because the adrenaline kicked in and he wasn't feeling anything. Two weeks after it happened, the surgeon said there's a high chance of infection and a high chance you might lose your foot. That was what scared me the most.
"I felt terrified and sick. I was more scared for Harley and of his reaction and how he was being than of my own. Seeing how scared he was - and he wasn't sleeping - [meant that] it was more about trying to concentrate on how he was feeling."
Panicking Samantha rushed to the scene after receiving the call from Harley's pal, before she took him to hospital where he was bandaged up by a nurse. Harley was then swiftly driven to the emergency ward where he was kept on a drip with antibiotics and painkillers before undergoing a two-hour surgery and a failed skin graft at 10am the next morning.
However, despite being discharged six hours following, the stress for the traumatised teen and the mum-of-four was ongoing. Unfortunately the surgeon suggested that there was a high possibility that Harley could lose his foot as a result of infection in his cracked heel bone.
Samantha, who works as a cleaner, claims that the experience was terrifying, and that medical professionals were 'gobsmacked' by the unusual injury. Samantha said: "It was really shocking. I felt sick, scared, I didn't know what was going on.
"They [the hospital] hadn't come into contact with anything like this before. It was the first they'd seen of it. It must have been very shocking for them as well. I had all the nurses asking to look at the pictures I had because they were so gobsmacked.
"The size and width of the puff bar went the majority of the way in, and jammed into the top of the heel bone, which cracked it. It was a clean cut of flesh gone. Harley was actually quite calm, probably because the adrenaline kicked in and he wasn't feeling anything.
"Two weeks after it happened, the surgeon said there's a high chance of infection and a high chance you might lose your foot. That was what scared me the most. I felt terrified and sick. I was more scared for Harley and of his reaction and how he was being than of my own.
"Seeing how scared he was - and he wasn't sleeping - [meant that] it was more about trying to concentrate on how he was feeling."
For the nine weeks following the incident, the devoted parent had to change and clean her son's bandages daily, taking Harley into hospital every few days to have the wound checked. Although Harley is now on the road to recovery, Samantha claims that the failed skin graft will likely leave a small dip in the teen's foot for life.
Photos of the injury were shared online by Harley's grandmother Andrea Keen, 56, in an attempt to raise awareness about the importance of disposing of vapes correctly. Andrea said: "He [Harley] was wearing £200 shoes which have a really thick sole on them. It went right through that, right through a sock, right through his flesh, up to the bone. That's quite shocking.
"If someone was running around with bare feet, that could go right through [the foot]. People have got to learn to dispose of vapes properly.
Harley's vape injury (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
"It's been nine weeks, and you can imagine that after being told he could lose his foot - it was awful. He's only 13."
The injured teen also found the experience 'very stressful' - although he claims that he is better now. Harley said: "I wasn't thinking. I just don't know how to explain it. I just stamped on it. It just went straight into my foot. It was very painful.
"The recovery process was very stressful. The moment where the doctor told me I could lose my foot was very very stressful.
"The pain is much better now."
ELFBAR have been contacted for a comment.
