Taylors Lakes Jack Blandthorn reveals extent of Halloween injury
A young Taylors Lake man who broke his neck in a freak accident has urged other teens to think before making a life-changing, and potentially fatal, life choice.
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A freakish accident has left a teenager and his parents urging others to stop and think before making a life-changing, and potentially fatal, life choice over the Christmas break.
Taylors Lakes Jack Blandthorn was at Halloween party with friends when a tragic accident left him wheelchair-bound for life.
Jack, 17, and his mates found a deck chair, a baseball bat and a giant swing in a playground near the party, with Jack strapping himself into the chair, secured only by the baseball bat.
What was meant to be a cool video to share between friends, quickly became a scene of panic and the screams of his friends as Blandthorn was flung from the chair, landing on his head.
“I just couldn’t move, I was trying to move but I couldn’t move anything apart from my hand for a while … I was in and out of consciousness the whole time, I ended up having an epileptic fit at one point,” he said.
“I was in the ambulance but I swear I could barely stay awake, I had people trying to talk to me and keep me awake but I was in so much pain, I was clueless about what had happened to me, didn’t know I’d broken my neck.”
It left Blandthorn with a broken C5 and C6 vertebrae resulting in a six-hour surgery at the Austin Hospital involving metal screws, plates — and some of the bone off his hip.
A month on from the accident, Jack is in regular therapy at the Royal Talbot trying to maximise the limited movement he has as his family maps out a road to recovery.
With Jack set to start Year 12 next year, he faces the added task of needing to learn how to navigate in his wheelchair, regular therapy and physio and whether he can manage his newly adapted Xbox controller.
“When I got here, my mental state was really bad … at first it was frightening because I was having nightmares about the accident, I was freaking out and throwing my arms around, crying,” he said.
“I thought I was going to be crippled for the rest of my life, now I can accept that fact but as well it is a bit scary it affects my whole life, like school, work and driving.
“It’s been a tough journey, I’ve had my moments here, everybody in my situation would.”
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As thousands of Victorian students celebrate schoolies, Jack and his parents want other teenagers learn from his tragic incident.
“(What I want) is someone to take from my journey that anything can happen in a second … think before you do something,” he said.
“Anything that could get them really badly hurt, I’d want them to think about what is going to happen and steer away from it and avoid ending up in my situation.
“I am lucky to be alive, I am lucky to still be here.”
Jack’s mother Jess Castree said: “Everyone does silly stuff when they’re younger but you don’t think this will be the result … this doesn’t necessarily factor in”
“Make this factor in because this could potentially happen so make it part of your thought process.”
The Taylors Lake community has rallied around the family with a fundraiser raising thousands through GoFundMe.
The fundraiser was started by Jack’s grandmother Jenny Childs with the goal of raising $10,000 but has already reached more than $16,000.
“I am so thankful and grateful for how many people donated, helped out,” he said.
“So many people have helped and I am so grateful for them.”
The GoFundMe link can be found here.
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