Riley Daly Lane, 3, broke her right femur (thigh bone) Thursday, Oct. 16, at her home in Goose Creek, South Carolina. Riley, her sister Jenna, mother Heather and dad David rushed to an emergency facility in Moncks Corner for X-rays and triage before being taken by ambulance to the MUSC Children’s Hospital in Charleston where Riley and Heather spent the night.

Doctors were studying Friday morning whether it would be necessary to pin  the bone back together or whether a cast would be adequate to stabilize the bone. Either way, prognosis is that Riley will be immobile for about eight weeks and have to be carried everywhere she goes.

Heather said the girls were watching The Invincibles on television and got into the spirit of the video. They had stripped down to their “My Little Pony” underwear and were pretending to be superheroes. In that company, they were jumping off various parts of the sofa in the den onto pillows on the floor while mother worked in the adjoining kitchen.

Mom said she heard a “slap” and at first thought one sister had slapped the other. However, she quickly realized that slapping was out of character for these two sisters, and she said the “slap”  didn’t sound exactly like flesh on flesh. “When I heard the screams that followed, I knew something was wrong.”

The family did a last minute reassignment to get David relieved of duty on base, and then they raced to the Monck’s Corner emergency room attached to Trident Hospital. Preliminary reports indicated the fracture was complete, and that raised fears an operation and pinning would be necessary.

Friday, Dr. Hooker, whom Heather compares to her own sister Laura (soft spoken, sweet), placed a half-body cast on Riley. On her left side it extends from ankle to waist. Then it goes down to the knee on the left side.

Grandpa Randy was pondering Friday morning whether this is an example of media effects, uses and gratifications or some other mass communication theory.