Orem parents grateful for son's recovery following playground accident

OREM — It’s a parent’s worst nightmare: a child is severely injured while they are out of town. 

Jen and Justin Makin have been on an emotional roller coaster for the past two weeks as their 9-year-old son, Chase, is recovering from a traumatic brain injury after falling off playground equipment. 

His parents describe Chase as a bright, active, popular boy. He often played at Nielson's Grove Park in Orem near his home. On Jan. 15, he wanted one quick run down the slide, but Chase fell 12 to 15 feet from the top, hitting his head. He was flown to Primary Children's Medical Center with a traumatic brain injury and a broken jaw.

His parents had just landed back at the Salt Lake City International Airport after celebrating their 10th anniversary in Miami when they got the news that their only son was in a coma and doctors didn’t know if he was going to make it. The couple got off the plane as quickly as possible and rushed to the hospital.

"To see your child there lifeless and machines sticking all out of him," Jen Makin, Chase's mother, said while getting choked up, “words can’t describe the panic and the fear that you have, and I collapsed at his bedside."

Chase spent five days on life support. His mother described what happened next on the family's blog: "His breathing tube came out successfully, and he cried,” she wrote. “The nurse said that was great because he put it together that it was painful."

Jen said she heard his voice. It was more of an exhale, but “you could just hear his life.”

The next day, she added, "He has begun storming, which is a phase of recovery where your brain is trying to reconnect with all systems."

His parents are counting their blessings. “I know that the first 36 hours were just torture because you don't know,” Justin Makin said. “But we feel very blessed that he’s here and that he’s making the recovery that he is making."

Progress is slow but steady. Chase works in physical therapy, stretching his muscles. He is learning to walk and talk again.

He has three younger sisters. Four-year-old Hailey adores him. He is her buddy and she made him laugh for the first time since the accident.