SINGAPORE: A nine-year-old boy ended up losing his kidney after he fell off the monkey bars at a playground in Bukit Batok.
The incident occurred on June 20 near Block 443D, Bukit Batok West Avenue 8. Liu Junwen (transliterated from Mandarin) had been playing with a group of neighbourhood friends when he lost his grip on the monkey bars and fell. As he hit the ground, he struck his abdomen against a plastic partition near the play structure.
Junwen’s father, 46-year-old Mr Liu told The New Paper that the fall happened around 6pm and the boy initially appeared shaken but had no visible external injuries. Still, something didn’t sit right.
“He came home crying and kept saying his stomach hurt,” Mr Liu recalled, “He also looked very pale and kept asking for water. I told him to rest, but he just couldn’t settle down.”
It wasn’t until later that evening, when Junwen’s mother was bathing him, that she noticed that his urine was tinged with blood.
Alarmed by the sign of internal injury, the family rushed Junwen to the National University Hospital (NUH) around 9pm.
Doctors at the emergency department immediately suspected internal bleeding but were initially unable to determine the exact source. “They told us the situation was critical and started a blood transfusion right away,” said Mr Liu.
Further scans revealed a 10cm rupture in Junwen’s right kidney. Due to the severity of the injury, surgeons had no choice but to remove the organ in an emergency procedure that began just after midnight and lasted nearly four hours.
Junwen is currently warded in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU), where he is recovering under close observation.
“I never imagined the injury would be so serious,” said Mr Liu, “He’s usually careful and knows how to look after himself. This really came as a shock.”
The monkey bars from which Junwen fell stand at an estimated height of 1.8 metres. The plastic partition he hit sits adjacent to the structure and is not cushioned.
Mr Liu said he hopes the incident serves as a cautionary tale for other families, “No one ever expects this kind of thing to happen. But having an adult nearby might make all the difference.”