Woman can't feel anything in right arm

The good news is that her unborn baby is fine.

But the bad news is that she may never move her right arm as freely as prior to the accident.

Her husband also said she has a blood clot in the brain area, and is awaiting results of a scan which will show if she needs surgery.

In the meantime, Madam Cao Yanyan, 32, is still warded in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

She was hit by a falling tree branch on Thursday at Bendemeer Road, near the Hyflux Innovation Centre (HIC), as reported in The New Paper yesterday.

The employee of IT company NEC, which is at the HIC building, was walking to work when the 5m-long branch broke off and landed on her.

It struck Madam Cao in the face and the area between her neck and right shoulder.

"It broke the bone there and damaged the nerve. She can't feel anything in her right arm now," said Madam Cao's husband, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lin. He works for an IT company.

But doctors told them that their baby would be fine, which came as a relief for the first-time parents-to-be.

Madam Cao is four months pregnant.

She was asleep when TNP visited her at her ward yesterday at 1.40pm, but when we visited again at 5.20pm, she was awake. Mr Lin was lightly massaging his wife's right arm.

The right side of Madam Cao's face was swollen and there was a dark bruise near her right eye. The deep cut above her eyebrow had been stitched closed.

She was quiet throughout the interview.

"I just hope that she recovers soon," said Mr Lin.

The couple moved to Singapore from Fujian, China, five years ago. They were acting on the suggestion of Mr Lin's father, who was already in Singapore at the time.

The couple are now permanent residents.

Mr Lin said that his wife's medical expenses would be paid by NEC.

An NEC spokesman said: "We are regretful that this incident has occurred. We are monitoring the employee's condition at the hospital closely, and will provide all necessary assistance to the staff and family accordingly."

PRECAUTIONS

NEC has notified all Singapore office staff of the incident. They were advised to refrain from walking along the pedestrian path where the tree branch had fallen, and to take the necessary precautions.

The tree is within the industrial area managed by JTC Corporation. A spokesman had previously told TNP that the Angsana tree is about 25m tall and 20 years old.

It was last pruned last July and was inspected in January this year and found to be healthy.

The spokesman added: "As a safety precaution, we have further checked another six neighbouring trees under JTC and did extra pruning works on them."