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[Top: Kelly's bandaged fingers.]
By Hedy Khoo
SHE lost her balance and reached out to grab hold of what she thought was the side of the wall to steady herself. null
But the 10-year-old's fingers slipped into a gap between the side of the bedroom door and the door frame, just above the hinge.
In the next instant, a gust of wind caused the door to slam shut, severing the tips of two fingers on her left hand.
Kelly (not her real name) was playing with her younger brother, 5, outside her eldest sister's bedroom last Wednesday when the accident occurred at around 3.30pm.
At one point, her brother pulled her leg and she reached behind her for the wall to maintain her balance.
As she was facing away from the door, she did not realise it was closing until it was too late.
Kelly said: 'I felt a very sharp pain (in) my hand and I screamed.'
She was in a daze as she held up her hand to see it covered in blood.
The tips of her index and middle fingers had been severed midway through her fingernails.
| Put your severed finger in ice bags fast |
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1 Cover wound with sterile bandage. Keep arm raised to lessen blood flow. Moisten a sterile bandage with water. Wrap the severed part, covering it entirely
2 Using two plastic bags, put ice in first bag
3 Place the wrapped finger in second bag
4 Place the finger's bag inside bag with ice
5 Get to hospital. Call an ambulance
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Kelly said: 'I only remember the pain. I did not even know my fingertips had been cut off. When my eldest sister told me, I was very frightened.'
Both her older sisters, aged 13 and 11, were in the four-room family flat in Hougang when the accident occurred. Their mother had just left minutes earlier to go to a nearby minimart.
Her eldest sister, a Secondary 1 student who was in the room at the time, said: 'First, I heard a hair-raising scream from Kelly.
'When I turned to look at her, I saw her using her right hand to support her left hand, which was bleeding heavily.
'I was horrified and confused when I saw one fingertip stuck above the door hinge, and another one on the floor. It was very frightening. There was blood all over the door and the floor.'
She ran to the kitchen to get a plastic bag and ice.
'My first thought was to save my sister's fingers,' she said.
After putting the severed parts into the bag of ice, she called her mother on her handphone.
The second sister ran to get help from a neighbour, who threw a towel around Kelly's hand to try to stop the bleeding.
The mother, who wants to be known only as Madam Ann, rushed home and took Kelly to a nearby family clinic, which advised them to go to the hospital instead.
Madam Ann took Kelly in a taxi to the KK Women's & Children's Hospital.
'When I got home and saw my daughter bleeding from her hand, I started to panic,' she said.
She informed her husband, who left his work as a cook to meet them at the hospital.
On reaching the hospital shortly after 4pm, Kelly was admitted into a ward to wait for surgery.
Madam Ann said: 'My heart ached when I saw my daughter in pain and bleeding. I was very worried because she had turned pale.'
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