Tobogganing at a favourite outdoor hill is the quintessential idea of family fun for a lot of people in the wintertime.
For one Saskatoon family though, a day of sledding at Diefenbaker Park turned scary in the blink of an eye.
This, after Amanda Anderson said her daughter Aaliyah hit a snow rut, veering the nine-year-old sharply to the right and then slamming her into a chain-linked fence along the side.
It saved Aaliyah from going over a steep embankment, but it caused a lot of harm in the process.
“She broke the tibia and fibula of the left leg so you have two bones in your shin, she broke of them in left leg and one of them in the right leg,” Anderson said.
Pending any complications, Aaliyah’s recovery will take anywhere from four to eight weeks and she now needs a wheelchair to move around.
A few scrapes or scratches even bumps or bruises from a wild toboggan ride says Anderson is one thing, but a child smashing into a fence line is another.
As for the extent of Aaliyah’s injuries, users of Diefenbaker Park hill say they’re not surprised in the least.
“I had a youth break a collarbone a few years ago and I actually had a youth hit a jump just now and he might have just broke his collarbone so I think we’re on our way to the hospital pretty soon,” said Dylan Blommaert, youth worker with EGADZ.
“With the jumps I would say it’s a little bit more treacherous, you get a little more air and I would say the fence creates a bit of a havoc for people because there’s no way of really slowing yourself down if you’re beelining and heading towards that fence.”
The Andersons say at the time of the incident they were obeying this sign which is why they’re issuing a warning to others.
“Had she hit her back or her head or any other part of her body, it could have been 10 times worse,” Amanda added.
“It’s easily prevented put padding on the fence, put a snow fence in front of it to impact the blow for the actual fence.”
Ski hills have padding around chair lift poles to prevent serious injuries and Anderson argues this hill should be treated no differently.
In response, the City of Saskatoon says it will be contacting the family to discuss the incident and reviewing the site to determine if there are further precautions that should be taken.