Thursday, November 18

Boy Falls 80 Feet And Is Caught By Passing Doctor

Boy fell from 7th floor 80 feetI was reminded of this story, which happened at the beginning of this month (November 2010). I think it illustrates how some people, in this case a small child, are meant to live on, despite what happens to them.

The scene is Paris, France and two small children in an apartment are inexplicably left on their own by their parents.

Somehow one of the children, only 18 months old, climbs out of a window and onto the balcony, seven floors up. The next thing he is falling 80 feet. His number is surely up - but astonishingly no.

The toddler bounced on a cafe's awning and into the safe hands of a passing doctor!

The doctor, Philippe Bensignor, was with his son and wife. He explained what happened: "I was there at the right time. My son happened to look up and he saw that a little boy was on the balcony and had somehow got through the railing and was playing on the very edge of a vertical drop into the street. I just had the time to get across the street and place myself. I said to myself 'whatever happens, I mustn’t miss him'. The boy bounced on the awning and I caught him. He didn’t have a scratch. He cried for a few moments and then calmed down and fell asleep."

Another amazing thing to this coincidence is that the awning should not have been in place to break the boy's fall. The cafe was closed but the awning remained in position only because the mechanism had jammed.

The boy was taken to hospital to be checked over but only had minor scratches. His parents, however, were charged with neglect - they cannot be named for legal reasons.

This was one lucky little boy who surely was meant to live - the doctor, the awning and fate was on his side.

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5 comments:

  1. I remember hearing this one on the news and thinking, Oh, wow, got to write this up!" Then forgot to. Glad you did!

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  2. Wow! Had not heard this yet, so glad you posted it. I've had 3 times in my life when I could have died and have always thought "I'm still alive for a reason!" I wonder how many of us have escaped an untimely end due to timing and synchronicity. Whenever I pass a car accident I think about if I'd been along 2 minutes earlier---do you ever think about that?

    funny wv: spidishi

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  3. Trish & Rob: I forgot this also at the time and then I saw it in an old newspaper.

    musingegret: So often someone is saved against all of the odds, I'm sure there is a reason for this: they have something to complete in this life.

    I try not to think of what may have happened if I had been a couple of minutes earlier when viewing an accident - there can be too many 'ifs' in life. In saying that sometimes this is difficult and may perhaps be a warning.

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  4. Anonymous07:57

    Awesome story, hadn't heard this!

    The funny thing I've noticed about stories like this is that we're always so stunned and thrilled at what didn't happen but it doesn't make a splash in the news. And it's delightful to me that it was admittedly "forgotten". :) Yet a tragedy his rehashed forever.

    Thanks, Mike! I'm so glad you remembered to share this story.

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  5. Terri: I remember being knocked out by the story when I first heard it at the beginning of November. It then simply drifted from my memory until I was looking for something completely different in an old newspaper - and there it was.

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