INDIANAPOLIS – A 4-year-old in Indiana is expected to make a full recovery after being struck in the head with a golf ball.
Decker Bowman, 4, and his 6-year-old cousin were playing together when the two found a golf ball.
The 6-year-old then hit the golf ball, accidentally striking Decker in the side of the head.
Within 20 seconds, the side of the 4-year-old’s head swelled up.
“The way it was sitting on his head was just really scary,” Austin Bowman told WISH. “We rushed him to the hospital and then after a few hours there, we were home and we were discharged and home.”
A few hours later, when Decker woke up, something wasn’t right.
“He woke up, he kind of like foamed on the straw that I gave him,” Bowman said.
The boy’s father rushed him right back to the hospital.
“When we saw the scan, the whole room that we were sitting in went from, ‘professional, it’s okay,’ to ‘I fell down,’” Bowman said.
A blood clot was putting pressure on Decker’s brain.
He was rushed to the children’s hospital where he immediately went into surgery.
“He was swirling down the drain, so to speak, very quickly,” said Dr. Jodi Smith, Decker’s neurosurgeon.
Smith says she removed at least a fist-sized area of clot.
Decker now owes his life to his father.
“Had dad second guessed himself, [saying] ‘Oh, we were already there. There’s probably nothing wrong.’ And [had] Decker went to sleep that night, Decker probably wouldn’t have awakened in the morning,” Smith said.
After staying in the hospital for a few days, Decker is now recovering at home.
