THE mother of a teenage York skateboarder says youngsters need to know helmets are “not for geeks” after her son needed 26 stitches when he fell from his board.

Jaeden Rogan, 13, from Holgate, is now recovering at home after he lost control of his skateboard while taking a bend at the bottom of Grantham Drive.

His mother, Jojo Rogan, 38, wants others to be aware of the dangers, even to experienced boarders like her son. She said: “Jae has been boarding and scootering for about eight years, so he isn’t a beginner.

“I’m trying to say that anyone can have an accident like this, it’s not just the amateurs.

“Unfortunately on this occasion he was not wearing a helmet and fell full force into a brick wall.”

She said: “I was walking down the street on my own, from work, and I saw one of Jae’s close friends coming to find me.

“I noticed he had blood on him and I asked if he was okay, and he said: ‘I am but Jaeden’s not’.” She said Jaeden had been taken to hospital by the father of the friend. “I just wanted to get to A&E to see how he was,” she said.

“It has left him with 26 facial stitches. Fortunately he had no broken bones or brain injuries.”

Jaeden is now expecting to return to Millthorpe School on Monday following his ordeal.

He said: “Because of the shock I didn’t really feel anything but it did start to hurt on the way to hospital.

“Some people think wearing a helmet is not cool, but if I had fallen an inch further I could have lost an eye. But it’s not put me off at all.”