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Ed Yeates ReportingCutting tragedies with lawnmowers this early in the season has doctors at Primary Children's Hospital sounding a big alarm.
"The wife still hasn't touched the mower to this day - don't know if she will."
From his front porch, Cory Lerdahl sits almost in the same location where his daughter Oakley jumped onto the lawn while his wife was mowing the grass. One foot slid under the mower.
Cory Lerdahl, Oakley's Dad: "What I described at the time like a hand grenade had been stuffed in her foot and just exploded."
Hard to tell now, since it's been almost a year. The mower blade not only cut tissue, but 70 percent through the bone. Now, with a new season and new cases showing up, Dr. Alan Stotts is worried.
Mowers are safe, but kids are getting run over. Unless children are 15 or older, they should not be operating a power mower. Make sure no small children are playing at all in the yard while you're cutting, unless, as is now the case with the Lerdahl's.
Lerdahl: "Now, the kids don't come out when we're cutting the grass unless the two of us are out, both adults."
Dr. Stotts says one of the problems with a lawnmower when a limb is involved is it does not cut clean, and you'd be surprised at the amount of energy that comes from the blade.
Alan Stotts, M.D., Orthopedic Surgery, Primary Children's Hospital: "The amount of kinetic energy that is rotating in that blade is higher than what we think of in a typical ballistic injury, getting shot with a 45 caliber handgun. It's higher that getting shot with a 223 hunting rifle."
Blind spots on riding mowers are another concern, especially since some operators are using headsets and listening to CD's or IPODS.
Dr. Stotts: "And you become unaware of what's happening behind you and around you."
Amputations and a lifetime of damage, it's happening, so don't take chances.
Also, don't cut when the grass is wet, it's slippery. Always wear good traction shoes and never allow a child to ride with you on a riding mower.
