Yahoo News Boy, 9, nearly dies after falling eight foot off scooter
Ioan Watts was in a coma for nearly a month after his fall and is still recovering six months on
A nine-year-old boy who was in a coma for nearly a month after falling head-first onto hard concrete from his scooter in an eight-foot drop is still recovering six months on.
Ioan Watts was riding around on his scooter outside his home in Bedwas, South Wales, as he waited for his mum and younger brother to get ready for the morning school run.
His mum, Lydia Watts, says a fall from the scooter “wouldn’t have been a major disaster” but the youngster slid and fell off a ledge at height, landing directly on his head on the concrete floor.
The schoolboy was rushed to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where doctors found his brain was swelling and his skull was fractured in multiple places.
After medics stabilised him, he was taken to the paediatric intensive care unit of Noah's Ark Children's Hospital, where he was “probably the illest child there for quite some time”, his mum said.
Read more: Son speaks of family's heartache after father dies in Peak District fall
Rather than getting better, the pressure on his brain continued to increase, and five days after the 3 October accident, doctors decided to perform emergency surgery to save his life.
“They needed to remove part of his skull to relieve the pressure on his brain. They said if they didn't operate straight away, he would be gone,” said Lydia.
After the operation, doctors and nurses continued to do everything possible to reduce the swelling on his brain, including keeping him at a cool temperature and laying him at an angle.
However, it still wasn't clear if Ioan would survive, and he remained in a coma for around two more weeks.
Read more: Three injured when car crashed into bungalow 'while manoeuvring'
Lydia said: "He was doing very little and they weren't particularly hopeful… They said if his heart stopped beating it wouldn't be in his best interest to resuscitate him.
“Then little tiny things started happening. His pupils started reacting and his eyes opened a little bit. He started breathing for himself and began to urinate by himself.”
After three-and-a-half weeks, doctors took out Ioan’s breathing tube, not sure if he was going to breathe for himself, but to the relief of his family, he did.
Read more: Who is on strike today in the UK?
Ioan was then transferred to a rehabilitation ward at Noah’s Ark, where he stayed for 10 weeks undergoing physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.
His family were “basically living” at the hospital from October until after Christmas, until he was finally allowed to leave in January.
“He couldn't speak or sit up when he first woke up so we didn't know if he was going to be bedridden for the rest of his life, wheelchair ridden or incontinent or if he would ever speak again, but in November, his recovery was so astonishingly quick,” Lydia said.
"By the end of November he could walk, talk and play on his Xbox - not quite as he could before as he was still relearning a lot. Now we are four or five months later and he can do almost everything he could do before."
Read more: Shocked litter picker finds four huge live royal pythons in pillowcases dumped by roadside
However, Ioan still has a long way to go, and his family have been told it could take two to three years before the full extent of his brain injury is known.
He is in school full-time now, but needs extra support as he struggles with his attention span and impulsivity – shouting inappropriate things.
Lydia says he didn’t behave that way before, adding: “He was always a very normal, shy, quiet and clever boy, and he is now very different."
His mum added: “He doesn't want to be treated any differently than anyone else, he just wants to be normal.
Read more: 'Lucky' teenager rescued from sand after nearly being 'buried alive' on beach
“He gets upset sometimes thinking about what happened but we encourage him to talk about it but not to dwell on it too much.”
Ioan is very keen on thanking everyone who helped save his life, and Lydia is running the Caerphilly 2k with his eight-year-old brother Rhodri and around 30 friends from school to raise money.
Ioan has already exceeded his target of £1,000, but wants to raise as much as he possibly can, with proceeds split between Noah's Ark Children's Hospital and Wales Air Ambulance.
