Actress Shares Update After Dropping Son on Head and Fracturing His Skull
Having children is hard — and I don’t just mean the whole process of bringing them into the world. Caregiving itself puts a great strain on parents.
Joyce Carol Oates perfectly encapsulated the feeling in her story “In the Insomniac Night.” She wrote, “Only after the labor of birth, only after you’ve come home to your own private quarters bearing the precious gift of your baby, only then in the abrupt quiet and solitude of ceiling, walls, floor does the realization pierce you like a knife blade, ‘I am responsible for keeping it alive.’”
That’s no mean feat. And as one actress has realized, challenges and risks can arise in an instant.
Jenny Mollen (“Crash,” “Chicago Fire”) is married to Jason Biggs, the star of “American Pie.” The couple has two children, 5-year-old Sid and 1-year-old Lazo, according to Fox News.
Despite their fame, I’m sure they suffer from all the ordinary challenges of juggling a pair of children. For instance, I remember when my youngest catapulted himself off my bed right in front of my eyes.
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Mollen experienced something similar — only with worse results. On April 18, she posted a message on Instagram saying that she had accidentally dropped Sid a few days earlier.
The fall didn’t just result in bumps and bruises; Sid ended up fracturing his skull.
“On Saturday evening, I dropped my son on his head causing him to fracture his skull and landing him in the ICU,” Mollen wrote. “I am forever grateful to Lenox hill downtown and @nyphospital for their immediate response and aid.”
According to a 2015 study published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, there’s not necessarily any serious cranial-trauma risk from dropping a child or having a child fall. However, when children do need hospitalization due to head injuries, falls are most often to blame.
“Most [head injuries] from a fall in these children admitted to hospital were minor,” the authors wrote. “Infants, dropped from a carer’s arms, those who fell from infant products, a window, wall or from an attic had the greatest chance of [intracranial injury] or skull fracture.”
They added, “The highest risk mechanism of fall for acquiring skull fracture or intracranial injury is an infant who is dropped from a carer’s arms.”
Although a skull fracture sounds horrible, it doesn’t necessarily lead to terrible health outcomes.
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Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has highlighted four types of skull fractures, some of which seem quite minor. For instance, a linear skull fracture, which involves a thin break that moves in a line, is the most common type.
“The bone itself does not move,” the organization said. “Children with this type of fracture usually have a short hospital stay and surgery is usually not needed.”
That sounds exactly like what happened to Sid.
Mollen wrote, “It has been a traumatic week, but Sid is home now taking things slowly and recovering nicely.
“He is also eating a lot of chocolate-dipped ice cream cones and plans to try cherry-dipped soon. My heart goes out to all parents who have or will ever find themselves in this kind of position. You are not alone.”
Neither are you, Jenny, and we pray that your son recovers quickly.
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