'Surgeon says my son's bicycle helmet saved his life'

The mother of a boy who suffered broken bones in his face and a damaged spine when he came off his bicycle has said his life was saved thanks to his helmet.

Charlie Harper, 12, was cycling in woodland by High Rid Reservoir, near Bolton, Greater Manchester, when he went over the handle-bars of his mountain bike on Thursday evening.

He spent 48 hours in hospital but did not sustain lasting injury - and now his mother, Jaime Owen, wants to spread the safety message to others.

She said: "Charlie had on a helmet, a chest protector and knee pads - so I think if he didn't have that on it would have been a totally different story because the neurosurgeon said 'that helmet saved your son's life'."

Owen, an operating department practitioner (ODP) at Beaumont Hospital, said she was at work when she realised her son had been trying to call her.

She answered a video call to be greeted with the sight of her son's face covered in blood while his nose was visibly "off to one side".

"I kept doubling over," she said.

"I was looking at his face I was like 'oh my god, this is just so bad, this is worse than what I thought it was going to be'."

Owen, 46, said based on her medical training she feared Charlie could have suffered a brain injury or serious spinal damage.

She took him to the Royal Bolton Hospital - where he underwent a CT scan - and he was later transferred to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital for an MRI scan on his neck.

In the end, Charlie had suffered a broken nose, fractures to his cheek bone, damage to ligaments around the C1 and C2 vertebrae in his neck and multiple cuts and bruises to his face.

However, he is expected to make a full recovery.

Owen said her son had always been safety conscious when riding his bike, partly because his father had been in motorbike accidents.

She said her son "lives for bikes" and said he was keen to get back on two wheels despite his injuries.

But she said she was fully aware of how close she came to losing him.

Owen said she had once stopped to help a cyclist who had been struck by a car.

"I always pull over when I see an accident because I've got that little bit of medical training behind me so I've got advanced life support skills being in theatre," she said.

"I pulled over with this guy who'd come off his bike but he didn't make it home and he didn't have a helmet on."

Owen is keen to spread awareness and has created a social media page called "Get Your Lid On", and has already been in contact with her son's school.

"I'm trying to just look at the positives now and trying to make sure that something good comes out of that," she said.

"I know it could have been worse and I know he's getting better every day so I'm just grateful for that and I'm so thankful that that helmet saved his life."

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