Auburn 5-year-old lucky to survive go-kart crash

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:19:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Local parents Pia and Sean Tobin Sr. say their 5-year-old is on the mend after three days in intensive care following a recent go-kart accident.

On Oct. 19, a full week after the near-fatal accident, Sean Tobin said son Sean Jr. was full of energy and back to being “the same old Seanie.” Only days before, the Auburn Village School kindergarten student had endured excruciating pain shortly before being airlifted to a Boston hospital where he later spent three days in intensive care and neurology wards as physicians diagnosed the nerve damage he sustained.

“He’s doing good, although he’s a little restricted as to what he can do,” said Sean Tobin Sr. on Sunday, Oct. 19. “He looks a little beat up, but he’s our regular Seanie.”

Had it not been for the motorcycle helmet that he wore on his head that day, Pia Tobin said physicians told her that Sean Jr. likely would not have survived the Oct. 12 accident.

She said her son was riding as a passenger that morning in a motorized go-kart driven by a 7-year-old neighbor, and she said the vehicle caught the bumper of a car and was then propelled into the door of the car as if it had been “shot out of a slingshot.”

Auburn Fire Chief Bruce Phillips later said the force of the accident shattered the helmet, and Pia Tobin said Sean received bruises and scratches on his head and face. She said he was immediately brought to Manchester’s Elliot Hospital, where he was held overnight for observation, and was released the next day after physicians told her the boy had probably received a concussion.

Sean went right back to his old routine of playing with his five siblings, and she said he “seemed fine“ other than the slight pain from the bruises he had. But on Tuesday morning it became clear that there was something wrong when Sean suddenly began “writhing and screaming in pain,” she said. “It was really bad, and in my mind, I really started to worry, (thinking) ‘Oh, this is bad,’” Pia Tobin recalled.

After speaking with paramedics, Sean was transported by ambulance to the school’s landing strip while Fire Department Lt. Linda Wilkinson drove Tobin to the waiting helicopter.

The boy was soon at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he endured a series of tests.

Pia Tobin said it was eventually determined that Sean had nerve damage that was caused by his brain “bouncing” inside his head due to the force of the accident. By the time he arrived home on Oct. 16, Sean appeared to be “back to his old routine,” and in a brief interview the boy had little to say other than the hospital “was fun” and that he felt all right.

Sean Tobin Sr. said his son’s treatment largely consists of keeping track of his behavior and energy level, but for the time being the boy will have take it easy and avoid “jumping around” in order to make sure his injuries do not worsen. Regarding the accident, Pia Tobin said she learned that police had confiscated the go-kart but she was not sure if the incident was being investigated.

She said she has no grudge against her neighbors and stressed that the event was “just an accident.”

“We live in the woods, and a lot of people have (off-road vehicles) and things like that,” she said. “I know that boy is really worried about Sean ... and he did nothing on purpose.”

Auburn News : go-kart

Auburn 5-year-old lucky to survive go-kart crash