Rhiannon Ingle
Social media influencer Kelly Hopton-Jones has taken to Instagram to issue an update to her concerned fans after accidentally running over her toddler son with her car.
The parenting influencer, known online by her blog Hillside Farmhouse, took to the platform earlier this week on Wednesday (15 April) to reveal that her son Henry, who is nearly two years old, was in hospital recovering from injuries after the accident.
The picture post Instagram carousel began: "Today has been the worst day of our lives. Life can change in the literal blink of an eye."
Kelly, who is also mother to her three-year-old daughter Lily, whom she shares with her husband Brian Hopton-Jones, continued to detail the ordeal, which she described as a 'true nightmare'.
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"It started like any normal day. I was taking Lily to get donuts before her dance performance," the pediatric nurse practitioner wrote. "Brian was staying home with Henry and was going to meet us there. He helped Lily into the car and was waving goodbye between our car and Henry, who was in the garage."
In just a 'matter of seconds', 23-month-old Henry was run over by their car while Kelly was in the driver's seat.
"Our neighbors stepped in immediately and took Lily, and we rushed to the emergency room," she went on, assuring her 64.4k followers that X-rays of Henry's legs, chest, and neck are 'all normal'.
"CT scan shows no injury to his organs or spinal cord," Kelly added. "Neurological exam has been reassuring with no signs of head injury or impairment."
The infant did sustain fractures to his pelvis that 'will take time to heal, as well as a few abrasions'.
Kelly's carousel post continued: "What stays with me is the doctor saying: 'He is hurt, but this is something he can recover from'."
She called this a 'true miracle'.
"We are in shock. We are so sad. But we are so incredibly grateful," Kelly went on. "We keep replaying it, trying to understand how this could have happened when we were right there. I don't have that answer.
"But I do know this has changed us."
The mumfluencer then outlined a 'non-negotiable' of holding or holding hands with young children around vehicles.
"Do not assume they know or will stay where you last saw them," she warned. "Even when you are not distracted. Even when you are not rushing.
"It can still happen in the blink of an eye."
Kelly rounded off the post with a photo of Henry in a hospital bed, resolving: "We are holding him a little tighter tonight."
She opened up about the tragic situation a little more in the caption of the post, which reads: "I can’t even let my brain fully go to how different this situation could be right now.
"It’s so easy to start questioning everything. If the morning had looked different. If B had gone to work like he normally would have, both kids would have been safely in their car seats.
"Why weren’t we holding him. Why didn’t I double check before pulling out.
"We could drive ourselves crazy with the what ifs, and honestly, we are a little bit.
"But accidents happen. And I keep coming back to what I would tell my own kids one day if this happened to them.
"It would be a lot kinder than the things we’re telling ourselves right now. Accidents happen, and the only mistakes are the ones we don’t learn from."
She concluded: "We’re on the lucky side of a very tragic accident."