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Guest post: "My son is scarred for life - I wish I'd warned him about railway safety"

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MumsnetGuestPosts · 27/07/2016 09:32

My son was 16 years old when he received an electric shock on railway tracks near our house. He had just finished his GCSEs and had his whole future ahead of him. Two years on, he is scarred for life, all for the sake of some quick fun playing on the railway.

New research from Network Rail and the British Transport Police has shown that children are twice as likely to play on the railway over the summer holidays. It may sound like something your children would never do, but warning your children about railway safety is vital. It's a serious conversation I wish I'd had.

We found out what had happened when my daughter's phone rang and it was a call from my son's friend. He was screaming and crying, and had called to tell us that my son had been electric-shocked. My daughter ran down the stairs to tell us but it took a long time for her to get the story out. How on earth could my son have had an electric shock? Why was he on the railway? I had no idea how on earth that could have happened.

We rushed to the railway line and there were 10 people working on him. I was there, but couldn't get to him. I felt so far away. The police had to keep giving me messages, but they couldn't tell us anything. I later found out that he had received an electric shock of over 25,000 volts. He had been with two friends and they had been egging each other on to climb up the trains and run on the tracks to run across them. He was the fastest, so he made it first. Now, his life hung in the balance.

I wanted to go with him in the ambulance but I couldn't. We were told to go to Coventry Hospital and were taken by staff straight to the family room. I thought they were going to tell me my son was dead.

What we found out was that he had been taken to the burns unit at Birmingham. As we made our way there, I saw an ambulance with its lights flashing and I was convinced it was him. It was like being in a terrible nightmare. But it was real life.

We waited for two hours at Birmingham Hospital while doctors tried to remove the burnt skin from his body. His face was swollen and burnt and his auburn hair had been singed and blackened. Looking at him, after they'd shaved his head so they could use skin grafts on his badly burnt body, my heart broke. He didn't look like my little boy anymore.

The doctor explained that we might lose him at any moment. We didn't. But for the next two weeks he was sedated, and it was three weeks before he was able to talk.

As a mother you do everything you can to protect your children. A moment of madness and what seemed like innocent fun will impact my son for the rest of his life. He has scars all over his body and it has impacted his school life. Two years later and he still has to have a considerable amount of surgery, and just recently he has had another round of operations and skin grafts. He still has physiotherapy and wears hoodies and a bandana to cover his scars, even on a hot day. He no longer likes going out in the day.

Children don't realise the dangers that railways pose until we explain them. They think the electricity is turned off when trains aren't running, or that if they look first they will be okay, even though trains can run at 140mph. The message for children is clear. If you are on the railway, you are on dangerous ground.

Please make sure you have that conversation and that your children are aware of the dangers this summer.

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DonkeyOaty · 27/07/2016 09:42

I am so sorry Siobhan, your poor boy

We have had the conversation in the past and I'll reiterate today

Thank you for sharing such painful event and very best wishes for your son's continuing recovery