MrMaheswaran Baskaralingam and his daughter Pratheepa watching over Sarugesh, whose hip was fractured when his mother pushed him out of the way of an oncoming lorry. Pratheepa escaped with slight injuries. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF MAHESWARAN BASKARALINGAM ST PHOTO: LIM CHIN PING
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It should have been a routine five-minute walk to the hawker centre, but Pratheepa Baskaralingam's mother is now in hospital.
On Friday, the quick-thinking housewife had averted what might have been a tragedy when she spotted a truck heading towards her two children and her as they walked along the sidewalk.
Pratheepa, 15, said they had been heading for breakfast at the hawker centre near their Toa Payoh Lorong 8 flat at 9.45am.
She was walking behind her mother, Mrs Shanti Baskaralingam, and three-year-old brother Sarugesh when a lorry and a container truck collided on the opposite side of the road.
The impact sent the lorry hurtling their way.
'My mother turned and shouted, 'Pratheepa, go away',' she recounted. 'I moved about 1m or 2m back so I wasn't hurt.
'My mother knew she might not have time to carry Sarugesh so she just pushed him away. She wanted us to be safe. She didn't care about herself,' Pratheepa said of her 32-year-old mother.
The truck hit MrsBaskaralingam, critically injuring her. She was warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and had an operation that lasted from 4pm to midnight.
Sarugesh suffered a hip fracture after he fell and was taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.
Husband and father Maheswaran Baskaralingam, 45, told The Sunday Times that he rushed to pick up his third child, Nithya, 13, from school after he was told of the accident.
Nithya said: 'He was crying and told me that my mother and siblings were involved in an accident. I thought he was joking until I saw the police cars and my mother lying a few metres from the lorry.'
When The Sunday Times visited Sarugesh yesterday, his legs were in a cast. His sisters and their maternal grandmother, who had flown in from Sri Lanka, were at his bedside.
Nithya said: 'The doctor told us that his heartbeat would accelerate when he thinks of the accident. He constantly calls for my father.'
Their father, who shuttled five to six times between the two hospitals on Friday night, returned to work on yesterday morning with a heavy heart.
'I still have to work. Who is going to pay the hospital fees?' said the chef. 'This morning, Sarugesh told me, 'Don't go work, stay with me.''
Sarugesh's condition is stable and he has been transferred to a normal ward.
His mother, whose condition is stable, remains in TTSH's surgical intensive care unit.
'The doctor said my wife's right thumb could not be found. The flesh on the right hand had also come off and the doctors had to use the flesh from her thigh for a skin graft,' MrBaskaralingam said.
'Her left arm is broken and the doctors have to insert two metal plates. She also suffered head injuries and as the lorry hit her on her side, her liver, kidneys and stomach were also injured. There was also internal bleeding,' he added.
Pratheepa said she could not sleep on Friday night.
'I was so troubled,' she said. 'I just want my mother to be all right.'
| May 23, 2008 | |
Long road to recovery for hero mum
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| Not yet able to walk, she has to undergo physiotherapy; medical bills worry family |
By Aw Cheng Wei
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THE first time Mrs Shanti Baskaralingam pushed her three-year-old son away from a lorry hurtling towards them, he reached back for her.The 32-year-old housewife had to shove her son away a second time, but then did not have time to get out of the way herself.
The mother of three was flung into the air by the impact of the collision last Friday, and later lapsed into a coma. She regained consciousness on Tuesday after an eight-hour operation.
The first words she uttered when she finally opened her eyes were: 'Where's Sarugesh?'
Her husband, Mr Maheswaran Baskaralingam, told her their only son was safe and at home. The boy has actually been hospitalised in KK Women's and Children's Hospital with a fractured hip.
Mr Baskaralingam, 45, said he hid the truth from his wife because her doctor warned the family not to agitate her in her current condition. 'I will tell her only when Sarugesh is discharged tomorrow and can talk to her. Then she will not be worried. It's for the best,' he said.
Speaking to The Straits Times from her hospital bed in Tan Tock Seng Hospital yesterday, Mrs Baskaralingam recounted the split second she saw two lorries collide and one spin towards her last Friday morning. She was going to the market with Sarugesh and her daughter, Pratheepa, 15.
'I was holding Sarugesh's hand and Pratheepa was a couple of steps behind us when I heard a loud bang,' the housewife recounted. 'I turned around and saw two lorries hit each other. One of them was moving towards us.'
Mrs Baskaralingam remembers turning around and shouting at Pratheepa to stay back.
Next, she tried to shake away young Sarugesh who was holding her hand and walking beside her. What she did not expect was Sarugesh rushing back to her side. She pushed him away again, this time with more force.
'I pushed him away and I wanted to run but there was no time,' she said. 'When the accident happened, I didn't have time to think; I wanted only to save my children. I didn't know what to do about myself.'
Mrs Baskaralingam suffered internal injuries and fractured her left arm. The flesh on her right arm was scraped off and her right thumb was severed.
Both children are still traumatised by the accident. Mr Baskaralingam said: 'At night, my son keeps saying, 'The car is coming, the car is coming'.'
Pratheepa said she had difficulties sleeping.
'I'm very proud of my mother and very thankful that she has woken up. I love her so much,' Pratheepa said. She has a younger sister, Nithya, 13, who was at school at the time of the accident.
Mrs Baskaralingam is not able to walk now and will have to spend several months undergoing physiotherapy. Doctors advised her to stay in hospital for at least another month.
The family, though, are worried about the rising hospital bill. Medical bills for mother and son have reached about $8,000 in total.
Mr Baskaralingam, the sole breadwinner who earns $2,400 as a chef, said: 'Now I must pay the hospital bills as well. My wife and children did not jaywalk or break the law. Why must we suffer?'
They have asked a lawyer to look at filing civil claims against the lorry drivers.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital is also exploring payment options with Mr Baskaralingam.
awcw@sph.com.sg
'When the accident happened, I didn't have time to think; I only wanted to save my children. I didn't know what to do about myself.'
MRS SHANTI BASKARALINGAM, who saved her two children from a runaway lorry
TRAUMATISED
'At night, my son keeps saying, 'The car is coming, the car is coming'.'
MR MAHESWARAN BASKARALINGAM, whose three-year-old son Sarugesh was hurt in the accident |
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