Boy impaled on bike handlebars told to wait two hours for an ambulance

The family of an 11-year-old cyclist who impaled himself on the handlebars of his mountain bike were told by doctors that it was a “miracle” that the boy survived – after initially being informed that they would have to wait two hours for an ambulance to arrive on the scene.

The Metro reports that Jayden Blann was riding his bike near a skatepark in Worcester when he crashed, the exposed sharp end of his handlebars piercing his groin and leaving a gaping wound.

As Jayden’s parents rushed to his aid, a passer-by called 999 but was told that the boy’s injuries were only classed as category two of four in terms of seriousness and severity, which meant that it would take up to two hours for paramedics to arrive.

Instead, the 11-year-old’s parents opted to drive him to A&E where, after being informed that their son’s injuries constituted an emergency case, Jayden was then urgently transferred to the nearest children’s hospital half an hour away in Birmingham.

> US father’s warning after six-year-old dies after being impaled by his bike’s handlebars 

Jayden’s mum Daniele told the Metro that doctors later informed her that it was a “miracle” he had survived the incident and that they were “shocked” paramedics hadn’t treated him sooner.

“The fact that he was blue-lighted to Birmingham says it all really,” she continued.

“I’m cross and upset with the government for all the cuts they have been making. At the moment, the NHS is very underfunded, and I know they are doing their best.”

A spokesperson for the West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “The ambulance service relies on each part of the health and social care system working together so that our ambulances can get to patients in the community quickly.

“Sadly the pressures we are seeing in health and social care lead to long hospital handover delays with our crews left caring for patients that need admitting to hospital rather than responding to the next call.

“The result is that our crews are delayed reaching patients. We are working incredibly hard with all of our NHS and social care partners to prevent these delays, looking at new ways to safely hand over patients quickly so that our crews can respond more rapidly and save more lives.”

After spending the night in hospital, Jayden is now recovering from his injuries at home.

> Oxford teen’s penis ‘degloved’ by his bike’s handlebars in freak crash - doctors urge ensuring bars have grips to avoid similar cases 

While Jayden’s shocking crash gave his parents a scare, such incidents are unusual but not unknown. In 2018 we reported that the father of a six-year-old boy in the United States urged parents to check their children’s bikes after his son was killed when he became impaled on the handlebars.

Denny Curran died after the day after he suffered a fall when riding with friends on quiet residential roads in Pullman, Washington State.

His father, Keith, said: “For some reason, and I don't know yet, the bicycle handlebars turned ninety degrees and impacted the asphalt and impaled him in his abdomen.

“He tore his iliac artery and lacerated his abdomen. He stopped breathing and CPR was performed. They had to clamp off the artery.”

He said that the bike was missing its bar end plugs and the edges had worn off the rubber grips.

“This bicycle's handlebar tubes, they are these tubes and they have some serration on the end of them, and through normal operation of bike it saws off the rubber on the grips and they poke through,” Mr Curran said.

He added: “I looked at the bicycle afterwards and I see that the grip had been moved forward. I don't know if that was from the impact of his body hitting it or if that was from operational use.”

In 2019, we also reported how doctors in Oxford had urged cyclists to check their handlebar grips after an incident in which a 14-year-old boy’s penis became ‘degloved’ when he crashed into a parked car, impaling his groin.