You know, tragedies involving exercise equipment
have been in the news before and the stories
are absolutely heartbreaking.
The truth is, 8,700 children under five years old
and over 16,000 children between five and 14
are injured by exercise equipment each year
and according to federal statistics,
treadmills are the most dangerous piece of them all.
My guest, Jacob, says he knows far too well
how dangerous a treadmill can be
because his then two and a half year old son, Blake,
was left with these injuries after a Thanksgiving disaster
almost five years ago at his older sister, Ellen's home.
Now he claims Ellen is 100% to blame for this trauma,
but Ellen claims it's been almost five years.
The scars have healed, but Jacob's vendetta is ongoing.
In 2014, I had my whole family over for Thanksgiving.
I was in my sewing room when all of a sudden,
I heard screaming, and I discovered that Jacob's son,
Blake, who's two, had injured himself trying to
get a ball from underneath of the treadmill.
He got a road rash on the side of his neck
and the chin area.
His father, Jacob, never once expressed
any kind of safety concern about the treadmill to me.
I'm really sorry that he fell,
but I don't feel like I had any responsibility
for what happened.
When I saw the injury,
I didn't think that it would leave a scar.
I would never say that they shouldn't go to the hospital.
Obviously, that's a decision for his parents to make.
This is the text I got from Jacob the day after
they left my house.
"Your negligence and neglect led to a very unfortunate,
"life-scarring accident on a two-year-old.
"Our whole family has been traumatized
"by this entire incident."
I don't believe that I was neglectful.
My sister-in-law, Beth, sent me some medical bills
at some point a couple of months later
and at that point in time, I had had a conversation
on the telephone with Jacob.
Jacob was accusatory and yelling at me
and I just felt completely accosted on the telephone.
The responsibility I have is for trusting you
and I'm sorry that I trusted you.
I didn't pay any of the medical bills.
I felt like if I signed anything, I'm admitting liability
and Jacob's gonna come after me for more money.
Jacob has been obsessing about this incident
for the last four or five years.
Beth did send me a high resolution picture
and I couldn't see a scar in that picture.
Jacob should be over it by now.
This is destroying my whole entire family
and Jacob needs to move on.
Well, Jacob says his sister has convinced the family
that he is the one at fault for his family feud
when all he's been trying to do is advocate for his son.
My sister, Ellen, has never taken responsibility
for what happened to my son.
In 2014, we warned Ellen hat the kids could get hurt
if they're playing on the treadmill on Thanksgiving.
I asked her, "Is it going to be safe to bring my
"children there with the treadmill?"
She said, "The door is going to be locked
"and no one will be going downstairs."
Ellen ignored my pleas to make her home safe.
So, when we got there, the door was not locked.
The kids began playing with balls on the treadmill.
He got sucked into the treadmill.
We heard an awful scream from the basement.
He had what looked like road rash burns
on his face and neck and shoulder.
It was serious.
I was shocked.
He's screaming and he was shaking.
It was pure hell just watching your child
and not being able to do anything for him.
My sister, Ellen, is in the medical field.
Her advice was not to go to the hospital.
Ellen was making belittling comments.
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?
"It's not gonna scar.
"Blake just needs to suck it up."
How could anybody say that about a two year old?
We decided to leave early the next day.
We took him to the doctor and the doctor confirmed
that he would have permanent scarring
for the rest of his life.
Ellen offered to pay whatever medical bills came up.
It came to about $700.
When we started getting medical bills in,
she refused to pay.
I called her about the incident.
How much responsibility should you take
for this happening?
You left a dangerous piece of equipment out
that blue half my son's face off.
This incident made me question my relationship
with my family.
I don't trust Ellen.
It hurts a lot.