"We're so grateful our son is alive and well" (From Bournemouth Echo)

"We're so grateful our son is alive and well"

7:00am Thursday 2nd July 2009 in

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A MUM’S worst nightmare unfolded in front of her when her two-year-old son was involved in a collision with a van and airlifted to hospital with a serious head injury.

But Carly Sheehan said she and husband Martin feel the help they were given meant Lennon, two, has made a full recovery.

Christchurch mum-of-four Carly, 29, and children Honey, aged one, Lennon, two, and Brandon, four, had been heading to a beach hut on June 4 in the car, with older son Harrison, seven, following on foot with Carly’s mother Angie Russell, who lives nearby.

They got out of the car at 3.45pm and as she was strapping Honey into her buggy she heard a bang.

She turned and saw Lennon was in the road after a collision with a white van in Southbourne Overcliff Drive.

“I ran over, picked him up, ran back to the pavement and I was just screaming,” she said.

“Ten seconds later a lady walking her dog said, ‘I’m a consultant paediatrician’. She did CPR on him.

“She worked on him until the ambulance got there.”

Carly phoned her husband, a 29-year-old locksmith who was working in Southampton, and said she thought their son would die.

Because Lennon was not stable enough, the ambulance could not transport him to hospital for two hours so the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance came to his aid.

After two hours of tests, and over an hour of medics stitching Lennon’s head wound, the couple were relieved to discover Lennon had suffered no other injuries.

He has no memory of the accident.

Carly said they wanted to thank everyone who helped, including staff at the Spyglass and Kettle who offered them coffee and kindness. Carly added: “We would also like to give our thanks to the driver for sticking to the speed limit.

“This shows us all it’s 30mph for a reason.

“Everything that happened after the accident went our way and we truly believe that someone was watching over us that day.”

Dorset Police said no action was being taken against the driver as it appeared the child had run out in front of the vehicle.