A woman that suffered a horrific accident on a hammock is now spreading a message of warning to the public.
Back in July 2017, Erin Field was fresh off her third year of university and was in North End, Boston to meet with new boyfriend Jack, who she’d just started dating.
On the rooftop of the building that her brother’s apartment, she sat down on a hammock with Jack, which was tied to a chimney.
She was left paralysed from the chest down (YouTube/Inside Edition)
As soon as he sat down, the chimney collapsed ‘right on top’ of her, Field revealed to NBC Boston in 2020, leaving her quadriplegic, meaning that she suffers a from of paralysis in all four of her limbs.
Now completely paralysed from the chest down, Field has made it her mission to spread the message of the dangers around using a hammock, telling Inside Edition: “I need to start making people more aware.”
Field has been left unable to walk again, waking up after the accident thinking she still had control of her legs when her brother and Jack asked her to ‘straighten her legs’, but terrifyingly found out that she no longer did.
Fields has been in a wheelchair since the accident (YouTube/Inside Edition)
The 28-year-old was made to go through a number of surgeries at the time, as she says that both her and her parents were left in the dark as to what was really wrong, though when her sister told her about the GoFundMe they started for her, it really hit that she was now quadriplegic.
Just last week, Field explained to Inside Edition that she is now paralysed from the chest down, but has some shoulder movement, some biceps and triceps, but no hand or finger function.
She revealed to the publication that she never felt upset about her injuries, however, she added that she’s definitely had some ‘bad days’, but Erin says she’s ‘accepted her injury’.
Jack has stuck around through all of her hardships though, even sleeping in the waiting room while she was going through her surgeries, despite only being together for a short period of time.
He ended proposing in April 2023, as Fields shares their story on her social media accounts, while also raising awareness around the use of hammocks.
She explained to Inside Edition that she didn’t look at what it was attached to when she got on, as she warned people in a social media video: “Don’t ever hang a hammock on any type of chimney or brick pillar – it will collapse on top of you.”
Fields explained that while in therapy, she met two other quadriplegics that had sustained their injuries from hammocks as well, while claiming that she met a mother whose son died on campus at college from a hammock accident, too.
The mother said that they shouldn’t be classified as ‘accidents’, due to how often it happens to people, inspiring her to start spreading the message to educate others.
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Inside Edition
