Heysham mum’s warning after son, seven, fractures skull at holiday club

A seven-year-old boy has been left with a fractured skull ?after a metal goalpost fell on him as he played in a sports hall during half-term.
Seven-year-old Zac Harrison fractured his skull after a metal goal post fell on him.  He is pictured with mum Karen Harrison.Seven-year-old Zac Harrison fractured his skull after a metal goal post fell on him.  He is pictured with mum Karen Harrison.
Seven-year-old Zac Harrison fractured his skull after a metal goal post fell on him. He is pictured with mum Karen Harrison.

Zac Harrison was seriously injured as he enjoyed the start of a holiday club run at Lancaster & Morecambe College.

The football-mad youngster is now unable to play any sport for at least six weeks while he recovers from his injuries.

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Fortunately, scans revealed no signs of brain damage or internal bleeding,

Zac Harrison.Zac Harrison.
Zac Harrison.

Now back at home in Heysham after three days in hospital, mum Karen said his condition is improving, but she is concerned at the way the accident happened.

Zac was playing with friends in a sports hall at the college when the incident happened on Monday morning.

Karen said: “We dropped him off and I had a phone call about an hour later saying there was no concern but Zac had a bit of a gash on his head and an ambulance had been called as a precaution.”

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His mum claims that when she got to the college she was concerned that one of the metal goalposts hadn’t been fastened to the wall, thus allowing the post to fall onto his head.

Seven-year-old Zac Harrison fractured his skull after a metal goal post fell on him.Seven-year-old Zac Harrison fractured his skull after a metal goal post fell on him.
Seven-year-old Zac Harrison fractured his skull after a metal goal post fell on him.

After being put onto a spinal board by paramedics, Zac was taken by ambulance to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, when doctors diagnosed two fractures to the front and back of his skull, as well as a chipped bone in his neck and severe bruising across his back.

He also suffered from concussion.

Zac’s condition was also monitored by consultants at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after RLI staff sent his scans for them to analyse.

He will have to visit the Liverpool hospital next month for a check-up.

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Zac was allowed home on Thursday, and must now be patient as he waits until he can play football again.

The Mossgate Primary School pupil plays football for Morecambe Development Centre and the GT7 Academy based at Dallam School in Milnthorpe. He is mad about Barcelona and visited their Nou Camp stadium in the summer, and has also been a mascot for Morecambe FC.

“He’s football mad and he can’t do any sport or running now for at least six weeks,” Karen said. “It’s heartbreaking for him.

“This will completely change his life for the next few weeks; he will have to miss some friends’ birthday parties as well as playing football.”

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Karen said she wants more people to be aware of how dangerous large pieces of sports equipment can be.

“I had a call from the college to say they have closed the holiday club and are looking into what happened, and offering me a refund,” she said.

“The kids were running around the hall playing, and a child could have been killed.

“I just want people to be aware of how dangerous things like this can be.”

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A spokesman for Lancaster & Morecambe College said: “We are saddened that a child attending our half-term activities on Monday 18th February was injured in an incident and our thoughts are with 
the family at this difficult time.

“LMC takes the health and safety of our visitors, students and staff extremely seriously and, as a purely precautionary measure, we took the decision to cancel this half term’s activities for children.

“We are fully and thoroughly investigating the incident that occurred and at this stage it is too soon to reach any conclusions.”