On March 11, 2024, TikToker Erin (@aka_errrwin) and her husband were at work, and they left their son, Archie, in the care of a babysitter, who was also a trusted friend. That day, Erin received a call from the babysitter, informing her that Archie had somehow fallen.
“She had no worry in her voice, so I thought it was just a simple fall,” said Erin. “I proceeded to call my husband and tell him, and he decided it would be best that he would go pick him up since he was closer.”
When her husband arrived, he found Archie completely limp in the babysitter’s arms. His eyes were open, but he was unresponsive.
Her husband immediately called 911. The paramedics quickly arrived and put Archie on life support. At that point, Erin’s husband called her to let her know what was happening. Of course, she rushed right over.
The paramedics told them that Archie had head trauma and needed to go to a hospital about an hour away. Later, they learned that the only reason the paramedics had allowed them into the ambulance to say goodbye was that they didn’t think Archie was going to make it.
After the ambulance left, they drove to the hospital. Once they arrived, they were told that Archie needed emergency surgery to save his life, or else he wouldn’t make it.
Three days later, they received a call from a detective who went over what he believed had happened to Archie. The babysitter had told them that she found Archie lying next to a toy bench and that she didn’t know what happened because she was in a separate room. When she heard a crash, she rushed over to find Archie lying face down.
“Mind you, all of Archie’s injuries are on the back of his body,” said Erin. “He had a fracture to the back of his skull and then three fractures to his vertebrae between his shoulder blade.”
“He also had bleeding behind his retinas, which is a high sign of shaken baby syndrome, and bleeding in his head, which is why he had to have emergency surgery to remove half his skull to allow for swelling.”
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Archie has damage to about 60% of his brain. He spent a total of 40 days in the pediatric intensive care unit and another 75 days in intensive rehabilitation.
The doctors compared Archie’s injuries to a severe car accident or falling out of a two-story window. The babysitter lived on the first floor of an apartment and did not have stairs in her home. She also only had one car, which her fiancé was using at the time.
So, Erin and her husband don’t know what the true cause of Archie’s injuries is. What they do know is that his injuries do not add up to an 18-inch fall, which was how tall the toy bench was.
Overall, there were a lot of holes in the babysitter’s story. Investigators are currently looking into the case.
Two years later, Archie still cannot walk, talk, or eat orally. His medications and food are administered through a feeding tube in his belly.
He can’t see on his left side without assistance. He also has daily tonic seizures multiple times a day and a condition called dystonia that causes muscle movements out of his control. He has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
