Mum shares heartbreaking video to raise awareness of 14-year-old son's fatal mistake that cost him his life
A mum has shared a heartbreaking video detailing her son's deadly mistake in the hopes it could save others.
Jacob Calland was just 14 years old when he sadly passed away on 27 March after tragically making the 'split-second decision' to jump on the back of another lad's e-scooter.
The pair rode down Timpson Road in Wythenshawe, Manchester, and through the junction at Southmoor Road, before suddenly colliding with a car on 19 March earlier this year.
Neither of the boys was wearing a helmet or any other safety equipment - and according to Jacob's grieving mother, Carly, the force of the impact was so powerful that her son's trainers flew off his feet.
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"He flew onto the opposite side of the road and landed in front of oncoming traffic," she said.
The 'bright and loving' schoolboy suffered a serious head injury, and he passed away eight days after the e-scooter crash, leaving his family devastated.
Carly has since decided to channel the pain of losing her beloved son into raising awareness of the dangers of the personal transportation devices, which have been a factor in a number of fatalities in recent years.
She explained that she had warned Jacob about the serious risks of riding e-scooters and had refused to let him get one.
In the hopes that she can hammer home how severe the consequences of e-scooter crashes can be, the mum made the courageous decision to share a poignant video about the circumstances of Jacob's death.
The tear-jerking clip - titled 'Jacob's Journey', which has already been viewed 65,053 times - documents some of Carly's happiest memories with her son.
Then, it movingly shows the final time that the 14-year-old ever left his house, which was captured by a Ring doorbell camera.
Less than 20 minutes later, the e-scooter crash took place, and the video shows the huge emergency response, as well as what transpired between the incident and Jacob being rushed to Manchester Children's Hospital.
Two days after, Carly began sending text messages to her son's phone, which explained the ins and outs of his treatment - as she hoped that when he recovered, 'the messages would help him understand what had happened'.
After later receiving the 'worst phone call of her life' from doctors informing her that Jacob had suffered a cardiac arrest, she sent him a text saying: "Your heart stopped beating!!
"It took them around 20mins to get you back...you suffered a septic shock...you have sepsis...I've been saying this all day...I feel like your body was telling me...I just had a mother feeling and I knew you wasn't well."
In other emotional messages, Carly explained how 'proud' she was of Jacob's progress while telling him she 'loves him with every blood cell in her body'.
Tragically, Jacob's condition ultimately deteriorated despite the best efforts of medics, and the teenager died on the morning of 27 March.
Carly has now launched a petition calling for a ban on e-scooters for those under 18 and wants tougher regulations to be introduced regarding who can use them.
She wants licenses and insurance for them to be 'mandatory', as well as a requirement for riders to wear helmets and safety equipment.
Carly is also calling for a ban on carrying passengers and stricter punishments for those who flout the rules, in the hopes that it can save another family from going through the same heartbreak as her.
Her petition has already garnered 6,745 signatures in just a couple of weeks - and if it reaches 10,000, the government will respond to it, while if it reaches 100,000, the matter will be considered for debate in Parliament.
"I've lost my son," the mum told the Manchester Evening News. "I don't want any other family to go through what I'm going through.
"I'm not saying ban e-scooters completely, I'm saying let's put rules in place to make them safer. The police aren't properly enforcing the current law so people are doing what they want."
She said she has been 'overwhelmed' by the support she's received so far, while encouraging more people to get behind her petition.
To find out more about Carly's petition in honour of her son Jacob, click here.
Olivia Burke