Preschooler impaled on a bamboo stick while playing on swing - Stuff

A preschooler who impaled himself in the groin on a bamboo stake while playing on a swing put on a brave face as medics treated him.

The four year old was flown to Starship Hospital with the stake taped to his leg to stop any rupture of major blood vessels in his lower abdominal area.

Around 12.14pm on Thursday, the Whitianga-based Auckland Westpac rescue helicopter was called to Whenuakite, in the Coromandel Peninsula, to assist the boy.

He'd been playing on a swing at a playground with a bamboo stick and somehow managed to impale himself in the lower groin area.

Intensive Care Paramedic Casey Drum said the stick, estimated to be about 800mm long, penetrated his lower abdominal-groin area on an angle towards his left shoulder.

Although it was hard to tell, Drum estimated the the stake penetrated 10cm deep.

"He was on the swing holding a bit of bamboo stake and he's either fallen off the swing onto or its been jammed in the ground as he's swinging and he's swung onto it.

"Physiologically he was stable but it's an injury site we get a bit concerned about."'

The impalement was near major vessels running to the aorta, Drum said.

"Because of the risk to those vessels we needed to keep the stake in place in case it was stopping the bleeding."

Drum said the boy was "a bit distressed" but brave.

"We gave him some pain relief and handled him carefully with the stake in place."

The stake was taped to the boy's leg to secure it during the flight to Starship Hospital in Auckland, he said. He was then loaded into the helicopter in a paddock a few hundred metres away.

His father accompanied him.

"He was doing well, a bit distressed as it was a shock - a sudden freak accident."

Drum said the boy was taken into surgery soon after arriving at Starship Hospital.