Them’s the breaks for teenage fisherman
Legs snap as young fisho falls off bridge
FEET UP: Trinity Park teenager Archer Lowe has a fishing tale to beat them all after breaking his legs when a crabbing trip went wrong. The 14-year-old broke both his legs in a fall from a bridge on to a dry creek bed.
A TRINITY Park teenager has vowed to steer clear of bridges for a very long time after falling 3m from a bridge and breaking both his legs.
Archer Lowe was checking his crab pots from the “wrong” side of the railings of the bridge over Moores Gully Creek, at the eastern end of Reed Rd, Trinity Park, when he lost his footing and fell into a dry creek bed about 3.20pm on Friday.
It was low tide at the time and Archer, 14, landed on hard ground.
“I looked down and saw that my foot was broken,” he said.
“I didn’t know my other leg was broken until I saw the Xrays. “I was in a lot of pain.” Archer’s mate Angus, who was also on the bridge, went to fetch help.
Paramedics called to the scene took Archer to hospital, where it was found he had broken the tibia and fibula bones in his left leg and the heel in his right leg.
He underwent surgery and stayed in hospital for four days.
Archer’s father Nayce described the shock of seeing firefighters and an ambulance when he rushed to the scene after being alerted by a stranger who phoned him at work.
“I automatically thought the worst,” he said. “He’s very lucky. “Archer’s stepmum works at Cairns Hospital’s ED and she was just about to finish her shift and knock off.
“I had to ring her and say, ‘you’d better not go anywhere’.”
It will be up eight weeks before Archer will be able to bear the full weight of his body on his legs.
But, he said, in the meantime he had plenty of time to reflect on his accident.
“I’ve learned not to go fishing from bridges,” he said.
The father and son had been planning a Cape York fishing trip next month, but the pair have now been forced to raincheck their holiday.