Marlborough teen injured in sledding accident at Massachusetts school

The accident happened when Liam Yardley, 15, was sliding with a friend down a steep hill at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass., Sunday evening, Liam’s mom, Christine Yardley, said Tuesday.

Liam, who graduated from Keene Middle School and attended Keene High School for one year, is a freshman at the co-ed boarding and day school.

“It was a pretty steep hill, which made it look fun and exciting, and it was also dark, and I think he underestimated how icy it was,” Yardley said. “Once he got on the hill he realized, ‘Oh boy’; he got an incredible amount of speed, and he just went flying.”

Liam eventually hit a fence, and his friend, who was sledding right behind him, fell on top of him, according to Yardley, who said the friend was uninjured.

Liam crushed a vertebra in his lower back and was taken to Boston Children’s Hospital, where he remains hospitalized.

This was one of two reported sledding accidents Sunday that left local children with serious injuries. Keene resident Bella Melendy, 6, fractured her skull in several places, suffered a small brain bleed and dislocated her shoulder, after sliding in the fields at Horse Hill Road in Marlborough Sunday, according to her mother, Crystal Melendy. Bella’s mom said her daughter hopped on the sled and quickly disappeared behind a hill. Bella’s brother, Damien Malcolm, 9, discovered his sister unconscious at the tree line, Melendy said.

Bella was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon and, as of Tuesday morning, remained in critical condition there, her mother said.

Liam can walk, but is in a lot of pain, according to Yardley, who said he got fitted for a cast doctors expect he’ll have to wear for six weeks, followed by intensive physical therapy. Yardley said he is expected to make a full recovery, but not in time for the spring training in Florida he planned to attend with his school baseball team in March. He’ll likely still go, she said, but won’t be able to train with his teammates. Liam, a catcher, started playing in the Keene Cal Ripken system when he was 7.

In 2017, he was part of the Greater Keene 13U Babe Ruth All-Star team that made it to the semifinals of the Babe Ruth World Series in Mountain Home, Ark.

If all goes well, Yardley anticipates Liam will be released from the hospital today, and he will spend a few days at home, before likely returning to school Sunday evening. The cast, Yardley said, is designed to take pressure off of the broken bone and alleviate pain, and Liam should be able to walk while wearing it.

Despite the severity of his injury, Yardley said she is thankful Liam will recover.

“He’s so, so lucky,” she said.