A four-year-old girl in Canada will be starting Kindergarten next month in a wheelchair after breaking two bones due to a ‘bad bounce’ at a trampoline park.
The daughter of Sarah Villanueva and Jesse Charbonneau said their daughter, Maddie, underwent surgery on Sunday to set her injuries.
This incident occurred at Extreme Air Park in New Westminster, British Columbia.
‘I’m going to be wheeling her in in a wheelchair,’ Villanueva told CTV. ‘She’s going through so much pain but she’s such a trooper.’
Maddie’s parents said they don’t fault the company for the accident, but are still joining others in calling for government regulations on trampoline parks, including another family that had a close call at a different location.
The owner of Richmond Extreme Air Park also wrote a letter to B.C. Premier John Horgan asking for regulations on trampoline parks, after Jason Jerome Greenwood, 46, died after injury at the location in January.
Maddie, the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Villanueva and Jesse Charbonneau, will be starting Kindergarten next month in a wheelchair after breaking two bones due to a ‘bad bounce’ at a Canadian trampoline park in New Westminster
It’s not clear exactly how Maddie was injured by what her father described as a ‘bad bounce.’
‘She caught a bad bounce and she wasn’t getting up right away,’ said Charbonneau said.
He was watching over his daughter and two other children at the trampoline park when the accident happened.
‘Then she started screaming really loudly and I knew something was wrong.’
‘She caught a bad bounce and she wasn’t getting up right away. Then she started screaming really loudly and I knew something was wrong,’ her father, Jesse Charbonneau said
‘I’m going to be wheeling her in in a wheelchair,’ Maddie’s mother, Sarah Villanueva told CTV
Maddie was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital where she had surgery on Sunday morning, after which her parents said they were told she’d have to be in a wheelchair for the next several weeks.
The New Westminster location deferred comment on the incident to the Extreme Air Park’s main office in Ontario, which did not immediately respond.
‘I’m not blaming this place for her injury,’ Villanueva said. ‘(Kids) do crazy things, they get in trouble and they get hurt and it’s all a part of life.’
Another family recently spoke out about an incident at an Extreme Air Park in Richmond, British Columbia.
Maddie was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital where she had surgery on Sunday morning, after which her parents said they were told she’d have to be in a wheelchair for several weeks
The New Westminster Extreme Air Park location deferred comment on the incident to the Extreme Air Park’s main office in Ontario, which did not immediately respond
Ravi Gill-Douglas wrote on August 20 about what she experienced the previous weekend.
‘This facility’s mandate is not safety for their customers nor customer service. My son took a 6 foot drop through their equipment and we had to track down an employee to come help, they were completely unequipped to deal with the situation and have yet to follow-up,’ she shared on Facebook.
Gill-Douglas said her three-year-old son fell through the trampoline while playing with friends, in the few moments when she had looked away.
‘We quickly ran over to where they were jumping and she pointed to where he fell through the trampoline. I started pulling away the velcro and yelling his name to try to find him. I could barely hear him over the noise and all the loud music. One of the other adults and another male jumper came over to help, while one of the mom’s ran to the front desk to seek help.
‘However, no one at the front desk seemed to be able to help, have a sense of urgency or know what to do. Meanwhile, we kept my son calm and talking to him until we were able to pull him out through the springs to safety. He was in shock and wasn’t responding too much going on around him, which is unlike him.
‘At this point an employee finally came to look at what was going on.Luckily we were able to get him out and there was no significant injury falling almost 6 feet down.
‘The staff had no clue what to do and didn’t even have keys to get access under the trampolines. We called the ambulance and had him checked out at the hospital, as he was in shock, but have yet to hear from Extreme Air Park – Richmond. My son is lucky and we are keeping a close eye on him.’
Ravi Gill-Douglas wrote on August 20 about what she experienced the previous weekend, involving her three-year-old son at the Richmond Extreme Air Park location
This mother was not as forgiving as Villanueva.
‘As a mother, this situation was traumatic and I do not want any other parent or anyone to go through this kind of incident, therefore, this facility should be shut down,’ she wrote.
Another family has sued Extreme Air Park, and specifically the Richmond location, over the death of Jason Jerome Greenwood, 46, in January, who suffered injury and cardiac arrest after somersaulting into a foam pit, according to CTV.
Weeks after Greenwood’s death, Richmond Extreme Air Parks owner Michael Marti asked British Columbia to create safety regulations for the industry in a letter to B.C. Premier Horgan.
He wrote: ‘I would welcome the opportunity work with your government to develop comprehensive regulations that give the public confidence that, in addition to the hard work trampoline parks put into ensuring the safety of their guests, there is Provincial oversight into trampoline park safety as well.’
There are currently no specific regulations for trampoline parks in B.C., while Technical Safety BC oversees amusement park rides.