NEW VINEYARD — A 4-year-old local boy whose right leg was severed and the other seriously injured in a bucket loader accident Monday was in stable condition at Boston Children’s Hospital on Wednesday, a family friend said.
Adam Mattson of New Vineyard lost his right leg, family friend Jessica Harris of New Sharon said Wednesday. “The efforts to save the left are looking promising,” she said.
Adam is in the Intensive Care Unit, she said. “That’s all the information I have for now, but it’s looking like a rainbow after the storm with a long journey ahead.”
Adam, who started pre-kindergarten this fall, was with his grandfather Sam Kennedy at a family gravel pit on Anson Valley Road in New Vineyard when the accident happened. Kennedy, who was operating the bucket loader, did not realize the child had gotten partially under the bucket. The bucket lost hydraulic pressure and came down on Adam’s legs, Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said Tuesday.
Kennedy rushed Adam to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington – from there he was flown to Boston. The actions the grandfather took after the accident saved the child’s life, Nichols said.
People in New Vineyard and beyond are rallying around the family.
Harris set up a gofundme page Monday following the accident to help Adam, as well as Kennedy and grandmother Kim Mattson, Adam’s legal guardians, with expenses. The three live in New Vineyard.
As of about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, 50 people had donated a total of $2,120.
Harris, who operates Rudy Photography, is running a fundraiser on Facebook; any session booked with a $20 minimum fee/donation will be given to the family. There also are donation jars at Bouncing Baby Boutique in West Farmington and at Our Village Market on Route 27 in New Vineyard.
Those who want to send Halloween or get well cards or care packages with toys, books, etc., may send them to: Adam Mattson, Boston Children’s Hospital, 7 South, Bedspace 26, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, Harris said. Food, cards, gas cards would all help, she said.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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