A 12-year-old boy narrowly avoided life-threatening injuries after being impaled by a metal spring in a trampoline accident.
Jamie Quinlan, of Louth, Lincolnshire, was mid-jump when the foot-long coil suddenly snapped off the bouncer and catapulted into his back.
It was travelling so fast – an estimated 70mph – it remained embedded in his body until specialist doctors could remove it.
His dad Ian described the spring as firing “like a bullet”.
He said: “If it had hit elsewhere on Jamie’s body, in his head or throat, we could have lost him,
“It was a terrible thing to happen, and it really scared me. It could have happened to anyone. Jamie has been so brave."
The incident unfolded on Saturday as the youngster played at a friend's house.
After being struck, the school boy collapsed but remained conscious as he was rushed to Sheffield Children's Hospital.
He told the Louth Leader newspaper: “When I was in the waiting room there, I was really nervous. It took them about 10 minutes to actually get the spring out of my back.
"The doctors said they had never heard of something like this happening with a trampoline.
“Sometimes it still feels like the spring is in my back, but I am getting a lot better and stronger now. I feel relieved that it wasn’t worse.”
