2-year-old accidentally fell from the 15th floor — a common garden element saved his life
A fall from a high-rise building can majorly lead to a tragedy, be it for a kid or an adult. However, in 2018, things took a shocking turn of events when a 2-year-old boy fell from a 15th-floor balcony and escaped death, per The Washington Post. The boy managed to survive miraculously and sustained a few injuries, including a broken leg. The simple factor that saved him has baffled many. The police received a call about a boy who had fallen from the 15th floor. Through some strange luck or miracle, the boy was alive and immediately moved to the hospital.
A fall as low as 6 feet can be fatal, per Safeopedia. However, in the case of this 2-year-old, he fortunately survived, despite his fragile age. Katie Donnelly, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s National Hospital and medical director of Safe Kids DC, pointed out in a conversation with the publication, “Balcony falls and window falls are a major concern that caregivers don’t necessarily recognize the danger of.” The boy sustained a few injuries, some of which were internal and a broken leg. However, they were all described as “non-threatening” injuries. While it was quite a relieving thing that his life was saved, it brought to several minds one question — how?
Anette Hosoi, a physicist and mechanical engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studied fluid mechanics and the "physics of falling,” told The Washington Post, “The first thing to realize is that it’s not the fall, it’s the landing." She mentioned that the boy fell into a bush, and somehow, that simple detail saved his life. “That bush absorbed a lot of energy for this child,” Hosoi noted. Two top factors that predict the vulnerability of a person after a fall include the surface and their age. She referred to a simple formula — force equals mass multiplied by acceleration and said that this concept gives an advantage to toddlers like this 2-year-old.
According to Hosoi, he fell at around 40 miles per hour (mph), while an adult would have fallen at a faster and stronger rate of 60 miles per hour. She pointed out that his size played a major role in determining the effect the fall would have. Furthermore, the fact that he fell into a thick bush ensured he didn’t get the brunt of the hit. Montgomery County police spokesperson Shiera Goff added, "His age and size, and weight are really what helped, because if he had been any heavier, he may not have survived. I think it was a combination of those bushes being there, those shrubs and his size and weight," per ABC News.
Sharing an instance, the professor explained that if a rabbit were to fall from a plane and land on something soft, it would have a 50% chance of survival. “The rabbit is the borderline case,” Hosoi said. “Mouse survives. A smaller rabbit survives. Bigger than a rabbit probably results in injury.” Joshua Abzug, a pediatric orthopedist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, mentioned that the bush took much of the energy and slowed the boy down. “As those branches twisted and broke, that’s where the force went. They absorbed energy and slowed the child down. The child landing in that bush probably saved his life,” he was quoted by the publication. As Abzug puts it, the interesting combination of science and “the grace of God” rendered life-saving for the boy.