'You can't dodge a defective firework'

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay News) -- The Shannon family of Cary , N.C. , was attending a family reunion in Kentucky over the Fourth of July weekend. The year was 1991.

Jack and Robin Shannon had brought their two young children, Stephanie and Michael, to the gathering, which included an evening fireworks show.

"The kids and senior citizens were across the street, and these fireworks were going to be set off in a field by her (Robin's) cousin," Jack Shannon said.

The last firework of the night was a pyrotechnic concoction called a "Patriot Missile Launcher," he recalled. It contained multiple rocket tubes designed to fire in a chain reaction.

The family didn't know that the product was unstable and tended to rock as it fired. "As it rocked, it had a tendency to sometimes tip over. In this instance, that's what happened," Jack Shannon said.

The launcher toppled over and continued to fire its hockey-puck-sized propellants horizontally. Three-year-old Michael Shannon, standing between the legs of his father more than 40 feet away, was hit in the head with one of the propellants.

"He was knocked to the ground. The propellant was burning his shirt," Jack Shannon recalled. "I picked him up, carried him across the street. At that point in time, he was very aware of his pain. As we tried to keep pressure on his skull fracture, he said he couldn't see us."

The projectile had caused an open fracture and a severe burn to the boy's brain.

The family rushed Michael to the emergency room, where surgeons worked through the night to try to repair his skull and stem the damage to his brain.

"The surgeon likened this injury to the sort of injury that comes from a shotgun blast," Jack Shannon said.

After surgery was completed, the doctors gave the family grim news.

"In the morning, when we were with him, they said he had a 40 percent chance of living," Jack Shannon said. "Our approach became, 40 is a big number for someone who's almost four. He could count that high."

But it wasn't chance enough. Michael died later that morning from complications caused by his injuries.

The death left the family "shell-shocked," Robin Shannon said. "We couldn't believe something like a consumer firework could hurt someone this badly, let alone kill them," she said.

No one blamed the man setting off the rockets. "My cousin who had purchased the fireworks had done all the right things to keep people safe. We weren't angry at him. He was equally as devastated as we were," Robin Shannon said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission investigated the accident and quickly yanked the product from the shelves, along with several similar fireworks.

Michael's loss left a huge hole in the family. "We're a very tight-knit family. Now, whenever you do something celebratory, there's always someone missing," Jack Shannon said.

The Shannons have since become outspoken advocates of fireworks safety.

"We were as careful as we knew how to be. Are you fast enough to dodge a bullet when it leaves the gun? If you're not fast enough to dodge that, you're not fast enough to dodge a defective firework when it goes amok," Robin Shannon said. "If you want to enjoy fireworks, do so at a professional display and leave them in the hands of professionals."

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