13 year-old girl impaled on metal railings after slipping but is saved by her jumper

A 13-year-old girl impaled her arm on a metal fence after she slipped while climbing — but if it weren’t for her jumper, things could have been a lot worse.

Poppy Elsey suffered a gruesome climbing injury, but surgeons say she’s lucky her clothing took the bulk of the impact.

The teen was getting off a structure called The Ice House at Spalding’s Ayscoughfee Gardens in Lincolnshire when she slipped and fell onto the fencing, panicking after she “couldn’t get off”.

Luckily Poppy was not alone on September 12 and her pal helped her off and immediately dialled for an ambulance and her friend’s mum, Katie Elsey.

She was treated with a skin graft to the wound and has been told to expect multiple operations as she gets older, The Lincolnite reports.

Poppy and best friend Molly Usher, 12, had been chatting on top of The Ice House which is reportedly not designed for climbing but is a popular frame for youngsters.

Poppy said: “It has been the most horrendously painful week of my life and I’m still in lots of pain now.

“So I just want to urge people – please do not climb on top of The Ice House.
“The pain hit as I landed on the fence. Then I panicked as I couldn’t get off.

“Molly lifted me off and I saw there was lots of blood. I took my jumper off and looked at my arm and the shock hit me. I began screaming.”

Molly called Poppy’s mum Katie, who arrived to find her daughter lying on a bench being comforted by a member of the public.
Her dad Mark also raced to the scene.

Katie said: “I stayed calm purely to keep Poppy calm but I was gobsmacked to see how bad the injury was.

“I was relieved when I knew she could move her fingers.”

Although they accept Poppy should not have been on the structure in the first place, her parents want something to be done about the danger it poses.

Katie added: “If there wasn’t an arrowhead, her injuries wouldn’t have been as life-changing as they are. Luckily it missed an artery.

“I dread to think what might have happened otherwise.

“At the end of the day it’s our job as adults to protect our youngsters from doing silly things and they don’t need much of a deterrent to stop.”