Reality star Jessica Wright’s four-year-old airlifted to hospital after ‘traumatising’ bouncy castle accident

A well-known UK reality star has revealed how a child’s birthday party quickly devolved into the “scariest day of her life” when her son was injured during a popular activity.

Jessica Wright, a TV star who rose to prominence on reality show The Only Way Is Essex, revealed to her 1.4 million Instagram followers on Wednesday that her four-year-old son Presley had been airlifted to hospital following a “freak accident” on a bouncy castle.

“Presley got catapulted off the top of a bouncy castle high in the air and landed face down on the hard wooden floor from about three metres high,” the 40-year-old wrote in her post.

“The noise silenced the whole party and will haunt me, I’m sure.”

The TOWIE star said the crash landing had left her young son “struggling to breathe”, with the little boy eventually “passing out”.

“To say he was in a state is an understatement,” Wright revealed.

The four-year-old was soon airlifted to a trauma unit in London where doctors were concerned about the extent of the child’s injuries.

“Things were being discussed like broken ribs, spinal injuries, and worse,” she shared.

Miraculously, the child escaped the incident with “no injuries other than a few minor bruises” and was discharged just hours later.

It turns out the experience isn’t Presley’s first major hospital visit — with Wright explaining the four-year-old had a preexisting medical condition that worsened her panic over the accident.

The star shared in August 2024 that her son had been diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve, a congenital heart condition that will require medical intervention for the rest of his life according to Wright.

“Will and I are so very panicky around Presley’s safety, especially because of his heart condition, so the fact that this (freak accident) happened to him . . . we were beside ourselves,” she wrote.

The TV personality has expressed her gratitude to all families at the birthday party who helped Presley as well as the medical staff at Royal London Hospital who treated the four-year-old.

While she acknowledges the accident “couldn’t have been avoided”, Wright says the “traumatising” ordeal has made her more vigilant around bouncy castles.

“I will be more careful in future if the bouncy castle is on a wooden floor as opposed to mats or maybe grass.”

Presley’s experience is not the first instance of a young child being injured while enjoying the popular activity.

Wright’s post comes just one week after a three-year-old died on a bouncy castle in Montreal after becoming trapped.

In 2021, six children died and three more were injured after a freak wind lifted a bouncy castle in Tasmania — prompting bans of the inflatables in schools across several states including WA.