Girl's lucky escape as tree branch falls on mum: 'I saw her getting crushed'
Adelaide woman Anna Frances-Wood says she will have to learn to walk again after having the bones in her leg 'fixed with metal'.
A young mum is lucky to be alive after an enormous tree branch fell onto her and and her daughter in a freak accident, "snapping her leg like a twig" and breaking it in three places.
Adelaide mum Anna Frances-Wood will now have to learn to walk again after the horrific accident at Keith Stevenson Park in Mount Barker on Sunday.
She is recovering after emergency surgery but says she's at least grateful the tree didn't seriously injure her four-year-old daughter Juniper who was right beside her when the tragedy unfolded.
"I just heard this massive sort of cracking noise and I just felt my leg snap like a twig," Anna told 7 News. The mum said the massive gumtree branch fell eight metres onto her leg and her young daughter, as she heard her terrified screams.
"I just saw her getting crushed by the tree branch and she started screaming," she recalled.
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"It did just drop at no notice," a witness told 7 News, saying there was no indication or signs the tree was sick of weak.
According to arborists, SA's recent "drastic weather changes" can distress trees causing them to drop their branches.
SA woman now has to learn to walk again
Anna was treated at the Royal Adelaide where she's since undergone surgery and will now have to learn how to walk again. Mount Barker Council has reached out to her and will now reassess the safety of all trees at the playground.
"My prognosis is still to be determined as to whether I'll be able to walk properly again," Anna said.
A fundraising campaign has since been established for the mum, where she revealed the true extent of her journey ahead.
"I can’t bear any load or weight on my leg for 6-12 weeks, after which I’ll need to learn to walk again, strictly no walking or hobbling," Anna said, in messages shared by her friend on the page. "I’ll be in crutches or a wheelchair. No cast, it's been removed since having surgery, I’ll instead have a knee brace as my bones are now fixed internally with metal."
It's understood Anna does not have extended family she can rely on as unfortunately her mother is not in the picture, and her father is deaf and vision impaired, the campaign said.
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