Doctors told my son, 13, he could lose his foot after he stepped on a plastic vape – it went right through his flesh
A SCHOOLBOY almost lost his foot when a plastic vape pen he stamped on pierced through to the bone.
Harley Bennett, 13, was left in agony after the four-inch disposable e-cig punctured his £200 trainers and went into his flesh.
He needed an operation, but was warned by the surgeon that amputation may be needed due to a infection in his cracked heel bone.
His mum Samantha Robinson said: “I felt terrified and sick.
“I was more scared for Harley and of his reaction — seeing how scared he was.”
Harley’s gran Andrea Keen added: “Can you imagine being told you could lose your foot? He’s only 13. It was awful.”
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But after having surgery on the injury suffered in October, the schoolboy is recovering from his ordeal.
It began when he found the discarded ELFBAR vape with pals and tried to crush it “like a Coke can”.
He said: “I wasn’t thinking — I don’t know how to explain it.
“I just stamped on it and it just went straight into my foot.
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“It was very painful.”
Harley’s friend called Samantha and she took him to Cirencester Hospital where he was bandaged up.
He was then transferred to Gloucester Royal Hospital, where he was kept on a drip with antibiotics and painkillers before a two-hour surgery and skin graft.
Despite being discharged six hours later, Harley and cleaner Samantha were left with the trauma.
Harley, of Cirencester, Gloucs, said: “The moment where the doctor told me I could lose my foot was very, very stressful — as was the recovery process — but the pain is much better now.”
Samantha added: “The hospital hadn’t come into contact with anything like this before — the nurses were gobsmacked.
“The bar went the majority of the way in and jammed into the heel bone. It was a clean cut of flesh gone.”
Gran Andrea urged users to dispose of their vapes properly.
She said: “He was wearing £200 shoes with a really thick sole.
“It went right through that, right through a sock, right through his flesh, up to the bone.
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“That’s quite shocking.”
ELFBAR has been contacted for a comment.
