An 11-year-old boy needed surgery after cutting a tendon in his hand on broken glass in a park.
The youngster was with his family in the park in Aberdulais on Saturday when he suffered a huge cut across his hand from the base of his thumb right across to the other side of his wrist.
He was whisked away by his mother to Neath Port Talbot Hospital for treatment, where doctors decided the incision was too deep for stitches, and he needed to be taken to Morriston Hospital to be seen by plastic surgeons.
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Mum Kristy Marie said: "He ran away when he first cut it because he was panicking and he didn't want to come home. I looked at it and it was too big to do first aid so I took him to Neath Port Talbot Hospital. The doctor said he couldn't stitch it because it was too deep and had severed 50% of a tendon.
"If it had gone any lower we were worried he was going to lose movement of his fingers. He has been putting on a brave face, trying to be brave for me, but it is painful and he's trying to hide it".
The mum-of-three said the area where her son was hurt was often littered with broken bottles and other rubbish from young teens and warned other parents to be on their guard.
"There are a lot of older teens in the park and down by the river, who go there drinking, and it looks like they are leaving bottles there and smashing them.
"My five-year-old daughter likes to go to the park to play as well, but I'm not sure when I will take them again because I don't want to bring it all back to them".
Aberdulais ward councillor Doreen Jones added: "I have been in touch with family and as soon as I knew about the issue I asked the parks department to go and clean the area.
"Unfortunately if people leave litter there is the chance of it causing accidents".
