THIS is the shocking moment a nurse, 21, broke her neck doing a somersault into a foam pit.
Footage shows Brooke Bowen launching herself into the stunt from a trampoline, inside a West Yorkshire gymnasium, on April 22 earlier this year.
Kennedy Newsand MediaBrooke Bowen’s fractured spine was missed by hospital staff after the injury[/caption]
Kennedy Newsand MediaThe 21-year-old had been practicing somersaults at a gym[/caption]
Kennedy Newsand MediaShe landed on her head and hit the hard floor[/caption]
The paediatric nurse completes one backwards somersault before appearing to land head first halfway through her second flip.
Brooke, from Wakefield, told the Mail: “I got upside down and I knew I wasn’t going to make it round and fell down on my head. It was the worst pain in the world.”
The 21-year-old had attended the session with a friend after their cheerleading practice was cancelled.
She was rushed to Pinderfields Hospital A&E after suffering excruciating pain through the night.
Despite describing her agony, and showing nurses a video of her flip, she was sent home after an X-ray.
However, Brooke’s condition failed to improve over the next couple of months.
She grew tired of constant GP appointments and pain medication prescriptions.
In the end, the young woman decided to go for a private scan and demanded answers.
Doctors discovered she had actually fractured her spine in two places, the C3 and C4 vertebrae – which are both located in the neck.
The cheerleader was also told her C5 and C6 were bruised and compressed.
Fortunately, her fractures were stable, but medical professionals gave her a list of life-threatening symptoms she had to watch out for.
Fearing she may be paralysed, Brooke was rushed to hospital in June after experiencing pins and needles in her legs.
Doctors fobbed her off again and said her symptoms were “all in her head”.
Brooke has since returned home from hospital but must go through six weeks of hydrotherapy.
She still struggles to walk properly and suffers from left-sided weakness in her arms and legs.
Kennedy Newsand MediaThe cheerleader went to A&E the following day after her pain worsened[/caption]
Kennedy Newsand MediaBrooke eventually went private after being fobbed off[/caption]
Kennedy Newsand MediaMedical professionals discovered she had fractured her C3 and C4 vertebrae – both located in the neck[/caption]
The nurse claimed if she had been diagnosed properly by hospital staff in April, she wouldn’t have been left with such chronic problems.
A consultant informed the youngster just this week how her legs could one day become paralysed.
Brooke added: “I’ll always think that if I was treated at the start I wouldn’t be in this position now.”
Dr Mark Freeman, deputy chief medical officer at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust said: “We pride ourselves on providing the best possible care to our patients.
“We are sorry to hear Brooke is not happy with the care we provided to her on this occasion.
“If Brooke would like to contact the Trust we would be happy to meet with her and discuss this in more detail.”
This comes as two former trampoline park bosses faced jail after 11 people broke their backs jumping from a 13ft high tower into a foam-filled pit.
Scores of people were injured on a daily basis at Flip Out — including three who fractured their spines on the same day.
David Elliott Shuttleworth, 33, and Matthew Melling, 33, were slapped with fines and costs totalling £72,800 for health and safety offences.
Between December 10 2016 and February 3 2017 more than 270 visitors were injured using the facility’s Tower Jump and Pit.
Of those casualties, 11 suffered significant spinal fractures and four needed surgery.
Meanwhile, 123 injuries resulted in dental damage, facial cuts and bruises and well as broken ribs.
Liza Jones, 26, said she felt a searing pain when she smashed into the foam landing below the four metre high “tower jump”.
The cardiac nurse was rushed to hospital where she discovered she had fractured her back and burst a vertebrae.
She had to undergo surgery and have metal plates and screws inserted in her back.
Fellow victim, Ceri Jones, told how she fractured her back at the attraction.
The 21-year-old claimed she was left “in agony” and feared she could have been paralysed after smashing into the foam landing pit.
Third-year student nurse Ceri said: “I was not there long and I looked at the instructions and landed on my bum – it felt like I had just landed on the floor.
“I immediately heard my back ‘crunch’ when I landed and I couldn’t talk or breath – it felt like I was winded.
“When I got to the hospital and my parents arrived, the doctor asked if they could speak to them without me.
“As a student nurses, we almost know too much and one of my friends started crying because she knew that it must be bad if they were telling my parents before me when I am 21.
“The doctors said that my vertebrae had exploded from the pressure if I was to walk then bone fragments in my spinal fluid could catch on my spinal cord and I could be paralysed.”
Kennedy Newsand MediaBrooke has been left with lasting symptoms and struggles to walk[/caption]
Kennedy Newsand MediaThe young woman has been told there’s a possibility legs may eventually become paralysed[/caption]
Kennedy Newsand MediaBrooke believes she would not be suffering as severely if her injuries had been picked up early on[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
