Charlotte Footner laughs again after suffering amnesia

A Gisborne dad has described the “heartbreaking” moment his daughter woke from a coma and couldn’t remember him.

A father of a two-year-old girl who was kicked in the head by a horse last month has described the “heartbreaking” moment his daughter woke from a coma and couldn’t recognise him.

Gisborne’s Charlotte Footner sustained significant head injuries after the horrific incident at a Bullengarook property on August 24.

Her mother, Rachel Borys, had taken Charlotte out to the family’s Bullengarook property in the morning where the family owned a horse.

There, she wheeled Charlotte down to the paddock in a wheelbarrow.

“She loved being pushed around in the wheelbarrow,” dad Brett Footner said.

Charlotte loved to smile and laugh.

Ms Borys was tending to the horse and, while she wasn’t looking, the wheelbarrow toppled, spooking the horse.

The spooked horse kicked, its hoof smashing into Charlotte’s skull.

“I was at work and got a call from Rachel, definitely not a call I was expecting. She was just in tears saying there had been a bad accident and that the ambulance was on the way,” Mr Footner said.

“You go into shock straight away. Not knowing exactly how bad it was, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I got the tingles down by body and was just … in shock.”

Charlotte Footner was bright, cheeky and independent.

After Charlotte was flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital, doctors didn’t know if she was going to make it.

She was rushed into surgery where the top of her skull was removed, and then placed in a coma in the ICU.

“You lose track of days,” Mr Footner said.

“She was in an induced coma for five days and everyday we just wanted to know the same thing: ‘is she going to make it?’.”

Her parents could not wait to get Charlotte’s smile back.

When Charlotte was finally woken from the coma, she was diagnosed with post traumatic amnesia. She could not recognise her parents.

“She was with us but not with us,” Mr Footner said.

“To see her like that … it was heartbreaking. It was like torture.”

After a few days Charlotte let out a cry and Mr Footner said “well if she can cry, she can laugh” so the family set about trying to bring back Charlotte’s smile.

Her family are hoping to get the old Charlotte back.

“We were tickling her, just trying to get the old Charlotte back,” he said.

Charlotte’s “old self” was a cheeky, smart, playful and independent young girl.

Finally, the two-year-old gave her parents a giggle.

“She is very stubborn, if she doesn’t like a treatment, she will let them know,” Mr Footner said.

Her uncle, Shannon Briggs, has started a GoFundMe campaign for his “bright and bubbly” niece and her parents.

He said her significant injuries made her future “uncertain”.

“ … There are still many unknowns although her parents are with her around the clock waiting for medical updates,” he added.

Charlotte currently has no movement in her right side but doctors are confident it will come back.

Charlotte has begun rehab but is scheduled for another surgery to retrieve bone fragments from her brain and close her skull later in September.

After that, her rehab will ramp up.

“She has no movement on her right side but doctors are pretty confident we will be able to get back to normality,” Mr Footner said.

Mr Briggs said Charlotte, who loved to swim and read, was bright and intelligent and already had a “big vocabulary”.

“She loves all the things normal two-year-olds love. She was onto the books already and was very ahead in those areas,” he said.

Gisborne’s Charlotte Footner sustained significant head injuries after the horrific incident at a Bullengarook property on August 24.

Already more than $53,000 has been donated to the GoFundMe, and Mr Briggs said he is so grateful to everyone who had donated.

“We are just doing what we can. In situations like this you feel a bit helpless,” he said.

Paramedics were called to the Bullengarook home about 12.50pm on August 24 and Charlotte was flown to the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital (RMCH) with an upper body injury.

Mr Footner wanted to thank the doctors and whole medical team who helped to keep Charlotte alive.

“We will be forever grateful for the support and the professionalism of everyone here at the hospital, they saved Charlotte’s life,” he said.

“To have her back … it’s incredible.”

She is a bright and bubbly young toddler.

It’s understood the two-year-old will likely require years of medical treatment, including occupational therapy, speech therapy and specialist physiotherapy equipment.

If you would like to donate you can do so here.