Pole impales schoolboy's foot

Blake Johnston, 11, underwent surgery to remove a section of a goal-post marker pole from his foot. Photo / Paul Taylor

A freak accident which saw a metal-tipped marker pole pierce a schoolboy's foot miraculously left all major bones, veins and tendons undamaged.

Blake Johnston, 11, of Havelock North Intermediate School, had just finished a game of lunch-time soccer last Tuesday when the accident with the pole occurred.

"Blake and another lad were carrying the soccer goal-post markers back to the sports shed and another boy booted a soccer ball," Blake's mother, Kelly Johnston, said.

"Blake ran to get it and fell - that's when the tip went through his foot."

An ambulance was called and staff waited with Blake for 15 to 20 minutes before help arrived.

"When [ambulance staff] got there he was given treatment, but they couldn't put him into the ambulance because of the 1.5m pole sticking out of his foot," school principal Graham Ellis said. "The fire brigade had to come and cut it down so he could be transported. It was a very unusual accident."

Blake was already at the hospital by the time Mrs Johnston could leave work. "He had about [7.5cm] of the pole still in his foot," she said. "I was quite panicked for him and I could see he was obviously distressed.

"He had to wait till 6pm that night for surgery to remove the post.

"Then they left it open and inserted something which they likened to a long balloon that absorbed all of the yucky stuff."

Two days later surgeons could assess the damage to Blake's foot - amazingly, they found only minor nerve bruising.

"Doctors said he was extremely lucky. If it had been 1cm back toward his heel then there would have been really major damage," Mrs Johnston said.

"Because the spike was blunt at the tip, it passed under all the bones and pushed the tendons out of the way."

Blake became something of a celebrity in the A&E ward, with doctors and nurses stopping by to take photos of his foot. "It was just so unusual that everyone in the vicinity popped in for a look."

The road to recovery will be long and Blake is just getting used to the crutches he will be on for the next three to four weeks, but his outlook is positive.

"He understands exactly how lucky he is to have only that bruising, that he's got away with something very minor," Mrs Johnston said.

"He was very grateful to all the ambulance staff, the doctors and nurses and everyone that helped him at school."

As for when Blake will be back in class, his mother said that will depend on his recovery this week.