Thank god she’s OK... mostly. Her helmet saved her life.

[unclebilly]

I posted about this in Look171’s thread.

A week ago, my 6 year old daughter had a huge wreck at the ski hill. She wound up somersaulting and cartwheeling about 650 meters and about 350 meters (vertical drop), hit a rock, and went over a cliff part way down on a double black run.

She started skiing in the Rockies at 18 months old and this run was not too difficult for her. The run is a chute and she got the side of a wind swept icy patch and crossed her skis on her turn and the tumble started.

I may have set a speed record skiing after her trying to catch her. I thought she was going to be a paraplegic or worse yet, dead when I got to her. Instead, she sat up and started crying.

I checked her vitals, and she complained of a sore left bum cheek. She had what looked like raccoon eyes, mostly on the right side so I suspected concussion. We got the ski patrol to take her down the hill the rest of the way in a T-Bog where they checked her out further and warmed her up. Then then they gave her to me - she could walk but it hurt.

I rushed her to the local small town hospital where she got several x-rays, 2 ultrasounds of her internal organs, a cervical collar, and was warmed up again. They found a fractured pelvis but couldn’t properly access brain or spinal damage. They then sent her and my wife via high speed ambulance (140 km/h) to the Alberta Children’s Hospital for work with the Trauma team. That is amazing facility with the most amazing staff.

When my wife and daughter arrived at Children’s a team of 12-15 doctors was waiting for them. Each doctor has their own speciality and would jump in as needed. I arrived only about 15 minutes after the ambulance (they took a dumb route through Calgary).

So we got off pretty lucky. She has some pretty good bruising, the raccoon eye appears to be from her ski goggles (it has turned into a shiner), and a cracked pelvis. After the first 3 days, we haven’t had to give her anything for pain and she is walking with a walker when we go out. At home, she keeps weight off her left leg.

Her helmet had several dents in the top including a deep sharp dent, likely from the rock she hit that would have resulted in a very serious head injury if not for the helmet.

I spent several days thinking about the activities that my kids do: skiing, dirt biking, kart racing, quading, etc. I was wondering if maybe we should take up activities with less risk... I believe strongly that kids need mitigated risk in their lives. Video games and soccer don’t give them this. I came to the conclusion that I’m not going to push as hard and am going to continue to insist on the best safety gear for my kids (and me). I have since ordered AEXOS HALO shirts for the kids and one for me.

We meet the orthopaedic surgeon again on January 8th and he will assess her healing progress. This will determine when she starts skiing again. It’s a shame because her program starts tomorrow. We are so lucky that her guardian angel saved her from getting hurt far worse than she was. This could / should have been far worse than it is.

We are fortunate.

If you or your kids ski or do any high risk activities, make sure you have an appropriate high quality and proper fitting helmet. It made a big difference for my little girl.

[cstreit]

Wow... I cant imagine the thought processes.

I want my kids to put it out there, but the consequences are sure hard to cope with when it goes sideways. Best of luck on it!

[Sooner or later]

Glad she is ok. It had to have been tough on all of you.

[biosurfer1]

I hated wearing a helmet as a kid, thought they looked stupid and got in the way. My dad said "I don't give a crap what you want, and when you're a dad, you'll understand"

I am a dad and certainly understand now. My son wears a helmet and I don't give a crap what he thinks about😁

Glad it was just some bumps and bruises for the most part. Hopefully she will be back out there soon!

[upsscott]

I’m so glad she avoided a life changing injury. Sounds like she’ll be back to normal in no time. Very scary though.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Wow! So very glad she is basically OK! Remember, get her a new helmet and safety gear, just a nice reminder in case you have not already done it.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

Wow! So very glad she is basically OK! Remember, get her a new helmet and safety gear, just a nice reminder in case you have not already done it.

I ordered her a new race helmet on Boxing Day. We still don’t have it yet but her old helmet is now nothing but a souvenir of a really bad day. Also, one of her bindings didn’t ‘pop’. I can’t recall if this was the ski on the left or right side.

[JackDidley]

Heck of a story. Awesome that your little girl survived this. I hope that it will become a cool story when she gets older with no long term problems.

[gduke2010]

Thank God for helmets, glad your girl will be OK. Sounds like she is amazing. I’ve been skiing for a long time and still get butterflies looking down at chutes.

[wildthing]

You wonder if they should take up less risky activities. You know they are your kids, so if you feel these activities are fine, then go ahead. Just take precautions as necessary, as well as the requisite lessons in safety...

[LWJ]

Very very happy for you and your family. That sounds just awful.

[plexiform]

Glad to hear your daughter is up and walking. That is a terrifying experience.

[WPOZZZ]

Wow! Glad to hear she is on the mend! I know people love them, but stay away from those Go Pro type cameras that mount to the helmet.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Glad it worked out (mostly) ok and here’s hoping she recovers fully and quickly and keeps on skiing. Kids are amazingly resilient! Keep that helmet! Some good lessons there!

[petrolhead611]

So glad that your daughter survived relatively unscathed that horrendous fall.
Agree completly about appropriate safety clothing.My daughter refused to wear a back brace when horseback riding through our local woods, so that ended her horse riding. Same thing happened as she progressed through the belts of Kick-boxing- refused to wear frontal body armour so that ended that sport for her .

[flatbutt]

I know the feeling UB, so glad she's all right.

[KFC911]

Whew....

Glad your little girl is OK Uncle B!

[ckelly78z]

It's rather like riding a motorcycle with the same thought process....dress for the fall, not the ride !

So glad to hear she will be OK, I wonder if she will want to try that run again anytime soon ?

[Gretch]

Whew!........... scary story.......... anyone who is a father had to be in major pucker factor reading it and cold sweats remembering it.

[Bugsinrugs]

I had a terrible crash skiing in my early twenties. Blew the bindings off both skis and broke one ski in half. I broke several ribs and wrenched my back terribly. After I recovered it took a long time to be an aggressive skier again. Glad your daughter didn’t get hurt worse then she did. She will get back out there but she might be a little timid for a while.