Boy nearly strangled at school battles on
THE boy who was nearly strangled when he jumped from a window at a Hawke’s Bay primary school is in a bad way in Starship children’s hospital, but his dad says he has always been a fighter.
Aryan Banerjee, 9, nearly died on May 25 after his shirt got caught as he tried to jump from a window at Taradale Primary School. He suffered significant brain damage and has been in hospital ever since.
His father Anjan, a GP, said his son had gone downhill in the past week after contracting two infections, which had caused pneumonia.
‘‘He’s not doing so well. At the moment, he’s having trouble with his stomach, which is causing him pain.
‘‘And because of all the medication he is taking for the infections, his other medication is not working that effectively. They’ll have to switch him on to morphine infusion to try and keep his pain under control,’’ Banerjee said.
‘‘Before that, he had actually improved a little to the point where we were looking at transferring him back [to Hawke’s Bay Hospital]. But just as we were planning for the transfer, he developed the pneumonia and started going downhill quite rapidly.’’
Aryan had not regained consciousness since the accident, but prior to contracting the infections had shown signs of recognising his family’s voices. ‘‘And he had started vocalising a little. He can say ‘ow’, but that’s about all. We’re not sure if that’s a step forward, or a step sideways.’’
Banerjee is travelling to every weekend, often by Auckland car with Aryan’s 11-year-old brother, Anshul. ‘‘If he recovers from this and we get to the long-term situation we’ll be looking at quite a long period of time in recovery.’’
He hoped his son would be fit for transfer in a week’s time. ‘‘He’s always been a fighter. He had a stroke when he was just 14 months due to chickenpox vasculitis [a rare complication of chickenpox] and he fought through that.
‘‘We’re hoping and praying for the best. None of us are sleeping very well, but I guess you would expect that.’’
It was believed Aryan jumped from the window after he found the toilet door would not open. Another pupil discovered him hanging from the window and fetched teachers, who rang emergency services. Paramedics restarted his heart and he was transferred to Auckland’s Starship hospital that afternoon.
In late June, he had improved enough to be transferred to Hawke’s Bay Hospital. But in early July, his heartrate rocketed and he developed twitches, so was taken back to Starship.
A WorkSafe investigation into the incident is continuing.