London mother Jo Saucek, 36, reveals the horrifying moment a tree branch fell 100 feet, crushing her 7-year-old son Sacha Saucek, who was in its path, fracturing his skull and breaking both “arms, leg, pelvis, a bone in his lower spine and five ribs.” According to the Mirror , Sacha suffered a grade three injury, which “90 percent of people never recover from,” but he somehow made a miraculous recovery.
His mother said after he was crushed by the tree branch, she was convinced he was dead. He was unconscious. They stabilized him for the helicopter. “It was so shocking. I couldn’t believe it was happening. I called my husband and I was taken to the hospital by police.”
The incident occurred on July 10 when he went on a school trip to Richmond Park. While chatting with one of his school friends underneath a sweet chestnut tree, he suddenly heard the tree branch fall and desperately tried to move out its path. However, he stumbled on a rock and was crushed by the tree. His friend was able to make it to safety, but Sacha was left fighting for his life, according to the Daily Mail .
Boy, 7, crushed by 47-stone branch makes a miracle recovery thanks to his big brother http://t.co/wSdwfIbGfA pic.twitter.com/4amHLCjrUs
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) October 16, 2015
He was rushed to Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where hospital staff fought to save his life, but he later had to be transferred via ambulance to Great Ormond Street Hospital to undergo a two-hour surgery to remove a fragment in his brain. Just 12 days after the surgery, he was in an induced coma and received neurological treatment. Shortly after, he began to show signs of improvement.
“It was amazing,” his mother said. “We were told he would be permanently disabled. But he did so well. He started to find his sounds. He began saying, ‘hi.’ It was lovely to hear. He was physically completely incapacitated because of his head injury and also because he had broken so many bones.”
Jo claimed that Sacha’s older brother Luka, 11, was the cause of her son’s recovery. She said, “Luka would sit with him and pull faces and watch YouTube videos with him. Sacha loved it. He laughed before he spoke. His speech came back. It was gibberish but then it started to fall into place. Everyday there was an improvement. By August we were so impressed.”
Seven-year-old boy makes miraculous recovery after being crushed by a 47 STONE falling branch – Mirror Online http://t.co/huEdvsStVW
— pops (@pops131) October 16, 2015
After the tree branch incident, close friends set up a Go Fund Me page to help with the family’s expenses. Jo said that they have all been by Sacha’s side during his hospital stay and “Trying to juggle hospital stays away from our family home as well as jobs and childcare has been tremendously hard,” she said.
“We are so grateful for all the support we have received on our GoFundMe page so far, it has alleviated some of the pressure at this very difficult time.”
“Our thoughts are with the Saucek family during this difficult time,” said Kelsea Little, who is the spokesperson for Go Fund Me. “It is incredibly touching to see how many people have come together to offer support for their GoFundMe campaign. We hope Sacha makes a full recovery very soon.”
A Royal Parks spokeswoman also responded after learning of tree branch incident, saying “Firstly, our thoughts are with the boy and his family, and we hope he makes a speedy recovery.”
“Incidents such as this are particularly rare which is testament to the regular checks made on nearly 170,000 trees across all eight Royal Parks. We are now working with specialist teams to fully investigate this incident.”
Since the incident, Sacha was confined to a wheelchair, but sources say he no longer needs the wheelchair to move around. “Although he’s made great progress, he is still under the care of The Children’s Trust in Tadworth and is “undergoing physiotherapy, occupational and speech and language therapy.” He will be able to go back to school soon.
[Image via YouTube screen capture]
