A mother who’s 6-year-old daughter was horrifically hurt in a car accident offers up some sound advice when it comes to strapping a child properly into a booster seat.
Virginia mother, Shelly Martin stressed the importance of buckling up a child in a kid friendly seat, after her daughter, Samantha Swartwout was hurt very badly in an automobile accident this past September.
The little girl was sitting with a shoulder strap behind her instead of being securely fastened in. Now in response to the horror of the accident, Martin is using this situation as a PSA, so other families can avoid what happened to hers.
Saying to Today.com, “It takes two seconds to put a booster seat in the car and to strap your child in.” Calling it an action that is needed because “It is going to save somebody.”
Swartwout’s father was driving the vehicle when Samantha was hurt after the car veered off the road and into a tree causing the belt to be rammed into her stomach when the car hit the object. Thus causing the little girl to sustain stomach injuries.
When it comes to the question of the booster seat, her father just simply forgot to put her in one.
The emergency room visit that happened because of the accident came with a three week hospital stay due to the serious nature of the injuries sustained to the young girl’s stomach.
Interestingly enough, the injuries at the time appeared as bruise marks, but the force from the accident actually shredded the girl’s muscle and fat, which caused portions of her intestine to spill outside of her belly, Today.com reported.
The doctor that treated Samantha, Dr. Charles Bagwell of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU said, “The child is thrown forward with an absolutely enormous force. The seat belt almost acts like a knife.”
If the little girl was secured safely in the booster seat, the results would have most likely been different.
Due to the ongoing procedures, expenses and the child missing a lot of her first grade year, the family has started a gofundme campaign.
The family has raised, $2,602 out of the $10,000 requested.
(H/T Today.com)