An Alberta mother is urging parents to put helmets on their children while tobogganing, after her toddler suffered severe injuries on a Red Deer toboggan hill earlier this month.

“I did not think that I would be heading to Calgary to spend a week in ICU with my baby,” said Kim Regnier. “Never. Never ever.”

Kim Regnier says doctors put her son Bennett into a medically-induced coma after the accident. (CBC News)

Regnier says she took her sons, Bennett and Luke, sledding in early January. It was the first time she let Bennett, 2, down the hill on his own.

On one of the runs down the hill, Regnier says Bennett’s sled veered off course and the toddler slammed into a tree.

“It was like an invisible force kicked his sled, it was so weird,” she says.

“I honestly don’t even really remember what I thought. I was just, I’ve got to go get that baby.”

Regnier says she doesn’t remember much of what happened after that - her husband brought Bennett back to the top of the hill and the family immediately took him to the emergency room.

There, doctors ordered a CT scan and found that the boy had a skull fracture, among other serious injuries.

“In Red Deer, they did tell us there was possible brain damage, just because of the fracture, they didn’t know.”

A pediatric team travelled to Red Deer to examine Bennett before transporting the child to an ICU in Calgary. There, he was intubated and placed in a medically-induced coma while he recovered.

Bennett has now returned home to Red Deer and is making a quick recovery.

“It’s an amazing blessing. I can’t tell you how relieved I am when I see [Bennett and his brother] fight, that’s what little boys are supposed to do, roughhousing,” said Regnier.

Family urges others to wear helmets

Regnier says before the accident, she wasn’t aware of how dangerous tobogganing could be. Now, the whole family wears helmets when they go sledding and she’s urging others to do the same.

“It’s not just about trees and obstacles, it’s about [running into] other kids.”

Katy Belton says sledding injuries are often catastrophic. (CBC News)

It’s a message that Kathy Belton, associate director of the Centre for Injury Control and Research at the University of Alberta, has been trying to get out for years.

She says a lot of people never think about safety gear for sledding.

“People don’t think of tobogganing as a hazardous sport, because it’s something we all grow up doing,” she said.

She says there were an average of 400 sledding injuries that required an ER visit for each year between 2004 and 2008, the last year where numbers are available.

She says the injuries might not be numerous, but when they happen, “they can be catastrophic.”

She adds that children should wear a helmet designed for winter sports -- like hockey, skiing or snowboarding -- instead of just using a bike helmet.