- Alyce Mahon, 36, Newcastle, NSW, took her three kids including baby Ella to a harbour front park to enjoy a sunny winter afternoon.
- The fun trip to the park quickly turned to horror when an e-bike rider crashed into Ella from behind.
- When Alyce held her crying bub, her head was pulsating with a massive lump and she was rushed to emergency.
Here Alyce tells her story in her own words.
It’s such a beautiful day today,’ I smiled, feeling the warmth of the winter sun on my face through our kitchen window.
‘Maybe we should take the kids to the park?’ my hubby, Nic, then 36, suggested.
It was July 2024, and he hadn’t long arrived home from his night shift as an operation manager, much to the delight of our kids, Kai, then six, Marley, four, and Ella, 21 months, who were ecstatic to see him.
So we agreed to take them out to burn off some of their energy.
Running upstairs, I told the kids our plan, as they all jumped up and down in excitement.
We typically visited our local park in New Lambton, NSW, but today, we headed to a marine-themed playground in Honeysuckle that we’d never visited before.
It’s located on the Newcastle harbour-front, just 5km from our home.
READ MORE: Car ploughs into restaurant: ‘I flew seven metres through the air’
‘Make sure to stay close to Mummy and Daddy,’ I reminded the kids when we arrived, the older two bounding out of the car as I unbuckled Ella from her child seat.
As we approached the playground, which was equipped with a giant wooden pirate ship, I noticed there was no gate or fences separating the park from the harbour’s edge.
‘I better stay with Ella, while you mind the other two,’ I said to Nic, wary of our little one wandering too close to the water’s edge.
‘Ella!’
While Kai and Marley happily played on the ship, Ella waddled across a footpath adjacent to the playground to check out the nearby garden.
With one eye on my eldest children, and the other on Ella, I called for her to come back over.
Babbling adorably, she turned back towards me.
READ MORE: Plane crash horror: ‘How I survived’
But as she placed one of her tiny feet on the footpath, a man on an electric bike came zooming along.
There was no time to react as Ella was hit from behind, and knocked face-first onto the cement path.
The sound of her cries echoing through the playground sent goosebumps down my spine, as I raced over to my girl, fearing the worst.
‘Ella!’ I screamed as the cyclist scooped her up and ran towards me.
‘I’m sorry.’
When he placed her in my arms, Ella was crying hysterically.
‘I’m sorry,’ the man said, deeply remorseful.
He’d been travelling around 25km per hour on the shared footpath.
READ MORE: I Was Crushed By A Car!
By now, Nic and the other kids had heard the commotion and ran straight over. Within seconds, I noticed a huge lump develop on the left side of Ella’s forehead where she’d suffered the brunt of the impact.
‘Mum! What happened to Ella?’ Marley and Kai panicked, as Nic took down the cyclist’s details to file a report with police.
‘We need to take her to the hospital now,’ I stressed to Nic.
‘We need to take her to the hospital now.’
Our girl continued to scream and writhe in pain as the lump on her head pulsated, making it difficult to get her into the child car seat.
Seeing her so distraught was heart-wrenching.
‘Mummy, is Ella going to heaven?’ Kai asked, wide-eyed from the back seat as we raced towards the hospital, just a four minute drive away.
‘Your baby sister is just hurt. She’s going to be okay,’ I consoled him through a shaky voice, while in truth I feared for Ella’s life.
On the way, we called Nic’s parents, Debbie and Peter, who came to pick up Kai and Marley.
When we arrived, doctors cleaned and dressed the lump on Ella’s head.
Thankfully, they were able to rule out a concussion.
‘She’s lucky to be alive,’ one doctor said. ‘If the e-bike hit her in the eye socket, it could’ve led to a disastrous injury.’
We never imagined that a day at the park could have such dire consequences.
‘Is Ella going to heaven?’
After being given pain relief, Ella dozed off, sleeping in my lap.
‘My beautiful Ella, I’m so sorry this happened to you,’ I said, holding her little hand in mine.
That was one of the hardest moments I’ve ever had to endure, I thought.
After waking up from her nap a few hours later, Ella was back to her bright and bubbly self, and we were allowed to take her home.
‘Ella! You’re back!’ Kai and Marley screamed when we got home, giving their little sister a big hug.
Over the next few days, her eye turned black and was swollen.
But after four weeks, she’d fully healed with no serious cause for concerns.
Now three, Ella is a chirpy and active toddler who loves to play with Kai, now seven, and Marley, five, but she remains traumatised by the incident at the park.
Whenever we visit a playground, she becomes quite anxious if I’m not close by.
While Nic and I decided not to press charges against the cyclist, as it was just a freak accident, we hope for major changes and improved regulation around e-bike safety from councils and the government.
There should be fences around kids’ playgrounds to separate them from bike paths. E-bikes should only be allowed on roads and kept separated from pedestrian areas.
Last year, there were five fatalities as a result of e-bike and e-scooter accidents in New South Wales alone.
We’re so thankful Ella wasn’t one of them.
