Lawn mowers present danger to children, warns Gilford family

GILFORD — Six years apart, Drew and Grady Shoemaker are the kind of brothers that just fit together like puzzle pieces. When Drew, 16, lounges on the couch, with his arms stretched across the top of the cushions, Grady fits right in below his big brother's shoulder.

Two years ago, in the summer of 2014, was when their brotherly bond began to cement. At the center of their bond, though, is a terrible accident, one that they refuse to keep quiet about.

"That summer, we just started to become a lot more close," said Drew. That summer, it only seemed natural, to everyone in the family, that Grady would ride along with Drew when he completed his chore of cutting the grass with a riding lawnmower. On Aug. 17 of that summer, Drew and Grady were doing just that, and Buddy thought the image was cute enough to snap a picture to post to Facebook. "Drew teaching Grady how to mow the lawn," he captioned the image.

It wasn't the first time Buddy had posted such an image. The first time he did so, one of his friends, who owns a landscaping company, immediately responded with a warning. Buddy chose to dismiss the warning, though, thinking that kids can get hurt doing anything, and that he had never heard of a child getting hurt by taking a ride on a mower.

Within an of posting the picture on Aug. 17, 2014, Buddy heard a scream, and knew instinctively what had happened. Turning his head toward the sliding glass doors, he saw his older son running toward the house, and soon he saw his youngest son laying on the ground. Grady had fallen off the mower as it took a corner, and both of his feet went under the mower deck, where they were nearly amputated by the whirring blades.

That moment began a new reality for the Shoemaker family. A panicked drive to the emergency room, then an airlift to Boston Children's Hospital, then weeks of worry while Grady underwent seven operations. Grady now has seven toes remaining between his two feet, and a reconstructed heel on one foot, but he now knows how fortunate he is that surgeons were able to repair and re-attach both of his feet.

On Aug. 29, 2014, Buddy returned to Facebook to tell the story. A loving father filled with regret and concern, and hope that other parents could avoid a similar horror, his post went viral and was shared more than 300,000 times. He received thousands of messages, from all over the world, from people who had their own stories to share. It took him months to read through them all.

Meanwhile, Grady was recovering. Amazingly, he was able to continue playing sports, and played in a hockey game at the end of the 2014-2015 season – even scoring a goal in his first game back. Bauer Hockey, the sporting equipment manufacturer, even made a custom set of skates for him, the first non-NHL player to receive the company's bespoke treatment.

"Obviously, he healed much faster than all of the doctors thought he would," said Buddy.

The Shoemakers soon pivoted from recovery to advocacy. Earlier this year, the family traveled to Orlando, Florida to participate in the filming of a video titled "Limbs Matter" for the Amputee Coalition. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 800 children are run over by riding mowers each year, 600 of them will require amputation. In fact, lawn mowers are the most likely cause of limb loss for young children.

A common response to injuries like Grady's, Buddy has learned, is to call it a freak accident that could have happened to anyone. But it wouldn't have happened if they hadn't taken an unnecessary risk. Even if the blades aren't moving, they're sharp enough to cause serious damage, and often, the amputations are due to infection from the dirt and debris stuck on the blades.

Grady said he wants to tell his story, "So that other people would know not to ride a lawnmower with somebody else."

"Especially that it's nice out, you've got to cut the grass and you want to spend time with your family," added Drew. "You don't want anyone on (the mower), whether the blades are running or not."

"You don't realize how often it happens," said Buddy, thinking of the warning he ignored. He hopes his family's experience will cause others to think twice. "Obviously, I should have listened to him. All you can do is warn people and hope they listen."

CAPTION: Drew and Grady Shoemaker, recovered from a lawn mowing accident, want others to know how dangerous it is for more than one person to ride on a mower, whether the blades are spinning or not. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)