Two-year-old toddler’s battle for life after being kicked by horse in the Macedon Ranges in Victoria
A two-year-old girl was left fighting for her life after a startled horse kicked her in the head on a rural property.
Charlotte Footner was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital after the ‘freak accident’ in the Macedon Ranges north of Melbourne last month.
It is understood the energetic and ‘very intelligent’ toddler was kicked after the animal reacted to a wheel barrow falling over.
Charlotte Footner’s (pictured) uncle says the girl was a bright and bubbly toddler who now faces a difficult path as she recovers from head and brain injuries
Charlotte was kicked in the head by a horse during a ‘freak accident’ in the Macedon Ranges in rural Victoria (pictured, a stock image)
‘Charlotte’s kind of been collected when [the horse] very unexpectedly kicked, so it’s just a freak accident,’ her uncle Shannon Briggs told Yahoo News Australia.
Mr Briggs said the girl was a bright and bubbly toddler, who faces a difficult path as she recovers from head and brain injuries.
The girl was placed in an induced coma but came out of it four days after and now needs to relearn basic functions such as walking.
She has not completely recovered her speech and isn’t able to move one side of her body but her family hold out hope.
‘It’s a very long road to recovery, we’re just getting little signs that she’s remembering things,’ Mr Briggs said.
Charlotte didn’t recognise anyone when she woke up at first but since then she has remembered her parents, Brett and Rachel.
The Gisborne couple have not been able to work since the girl was injured as they stay by her bedside around the clock.
She is expected to remain in hospital for months and will require years of medical treatment such as speech therapy and specialist physiotherapy equipment.
The family from Gisborne, Victoria have a GoFundMe page set up to cover ongoing costs that so far raised $40,000 in donations.
The funds will cover her recuperation and emergency transport the family used – including an air ambulance.
Mr Briggs said the hospital staff have been giving ‘world-class’ support through the family’s ordeal.
The GoFundMe money will cover physiotherapy equipment that needs to be set up around the home as part of Charlotte’s recovery (pictured, a stock image)
Charlotte’s parents, Brett and Rachel remain by the child’s bedside as she slowly shows signs of some improvement after the accident last month (pictured, the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital