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Speared son joined mum at birth
28/ 7/2003
IT was a day the Mahmood family will never forget … for all the
right and wrong reasons.
While Farzana Mahmood was giving birth to her sixth child in
Burnley General Hospital, one of her sons, nine-year-old Abu-Bakr,
arrived in the accident and emergency ward - with a metal railing
sticking out of his thigh.
Abu, of Bacup Road, Rawtenstall, was impaled on a 6ft-long railing
spike when he fell into long grass during an organised football
match on playing fields behind Bacup Health Centre.
His parents, Tariq and Farzana, were at the delivery suite in
Burnley General Hospital when Abu's older sister, Sarah (13),
phoned to say there had been an accident.
Paramedics called out firefighters who used a hacksaw to cut the
6ft-long metal railing.
Tariq said: "Sarah didn't tell me too much because she didn't want
to worry us, so I told her to ask the paramedics to take Abu to
Burnley General where we were.
"When he arrived I went to see him and he still had a 4½in metal
bar sticking out of the middle of his right thigh.
"He was quite calm and very brave and they gave him morphine and
local anaesthetic."
Tariq returned to his wife's side in time to see his third
daughter, Almaz, safely delivered at 4.35pm.
Surgeons operated on Abu's leg that same night and made sure no
debris from the rusty railing remained in the wound.
They ordered him to rest for at least three weeks.
Said Tariq: "The railing damaged his muscle but didn't penetrate
the bone. He is more upset because he is the fastest runner in his
class and he had to miss his school's sports day."
Sub Officer Tom Simpson, of Rawtenstall Fire and Rescue service,
said: "Abu was conscious throughout the time we were cutting the
railing and was in a lot of pain.
"One of our firefighters is a football coach and so he was able to
keep his mind occupied by talking to him about the game while we
got on and cut the pole."
Tariq added: 'He is a big fan of the TV programme 999 - he just
never expected to feature in one himself!'
A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "We have been made
aware that an accident happened during a football match at Bacup
Road playing fields which had been hired from ourselves by Positive
Start.
"We will be sending out a member of staff to the scene and a full
report will then be completed on what happened."
The accident will also be reported to the Health and Safety
Executive.
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