Boy, 6, ‘sands personal face off’ after ‘messing round’ on treadmill

A six-year-old boy may be scarred for life after he fell face-first onto a treadmill – sanding his flesh off and leaving him with a deadly infection.

Trudi Spencer rushed to pick up her son George from a pal’s house after being told he had hurt his neck during a playdate.

The mum-of-three was told George had been ‘messing around’ on a treadmill with his friend when the pair turned the speed up and he went ‘flying’ off the machine.

She described how the moving running belt caused ‘serious friction burns to his face’ – essentially acting like sandpaper on his skin, leaving him with scars.

The 31-year-old initially believed George had just suffered surface-level grazes, until the following morning when marks across his face, neck, elbows and arm began ‘scabbing and weeping’.

Horrified, the stay-at-home mum rushed George to the urgent care unit at Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton, where she was told he’d suffered second and third degree burns.

A week later, George’s symptoms began to worsen and the youngster was diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome (TSS), a rare but life-threatening complication of burn injuries.

Trudi has been back and forth to the specialist burns unit at Salisbury District Hospital to treat George’s burns – but still fears her little one will be scarred for life.

Now, the mum is urging other families to keep their treadmills unplugged to prevent similar incidents from occurring.

Trudi, who lives near Southampton, Hampshire, said: “George told me it was in a locked room but it hadn’t been locked, so he managed to get access to it.

“There were two of them messing around on it and they turned the speed up and he just came flying off.

“I got there and he was obviously in so much pain. He was crying. He had grazes up his neck, face, elbows.

“We got him home, cleaned him up and it didn’t look bad. At this point, I didn’t think treadmills could do this much injury. I thought we’ll just put a plaster on it.

“It just looked like a normal graze, like he’d fallen on the floor.

“The next morning, it was weeping, it was really bad. Things started scabbing. Overnight it got a lot worse.

“I rang 111 and we went to urgent treatment and they sent photos to Salisbury Burn Unit and that’s when I thought this is a lot worse than what we think it is.

“It wasn’t until then that you could see some of the injuries were a lot deeper – we were looking at second and third degree burns across his face, neck, left elbow and right hand.”

George’s injuries became so severe that the tot even ended up in A&E at Southampton General Hospital with toxic shock syndrome after red blotches appeared across his face.

Trudi estimates she’s been back and forth to the hospital 12 times to have George’s burns dressed and fears her son will be scarred for life from the accident.

Trudi said: “They have to dress his hand every week now. It could be a lifelong thing that he has to keep creaming his burns.

“He’s got scars on his neck and face now. I expect when he grows up, it’ll still be there a little bit.

“He has told me ‘I’m never going on a treadmill again’.

“It’s been horrendous. The one thing you want to do is protect your children. I never imagined going to pick him up so significantly hurt just from going to a friend’s house.

“I think he’ll probably be scarred for life over this, he’ll never do it again.

“I’d tell other people to keep their treadmill unplugged – after use, unplug it. If there’s no power to it, they can’t access it. If children want to get to something, they will.

“But if it’s not plugged in, it can’t be used.”