A parent’s greatest nightmare is for their child’s life to be in danger.
Mr Eric Tan, who’s the father of the 8-year-old girl hurt in a traffic accident in Woodlands, knows this feeling all too well.
That’s why he was able to empathise when a 15-year-old boy died after being hit by a car in Queensway.
He’s since channelled part of the donations he’s received to the boy’s family.
Since his daughter’s accident, Mr Tan, 45, has been receiving donations from well-meaning members of the public to help defray her treatment and hospitalisation costs.
On 30 Oct, at least $40,000 was handed over to Mr Tan by a family friend, who organised a fund-raising drive.
Additional funds were also given to Mr Tan by other charitable parties.
However, in a Facebook post on Wednesday (4 Nov), Mr Tan said he would deactivate his PayNow account to stop donations from coming in.
That was after announcing that something really good happened: his daughter Lovelynn had woken up from her coma after 12 days.
Mr Tan thanked all who donated for their generosity.
The family of Crest Secondary School student Huang Junyong wasn’t as fortunate, though.
Junyong tragically passed away on 27 Oct after meeting an accident while crossing Queesway.
He was apparently hit by a car at about 10.30pm that night.
Even though he was still worried about Lovelynn, Mr Tan read a news article about Junyong and felt empathy for his family, which comprises a 40-year-old single mother and an older brother.
He was quoted by Lianhe Wanbao as saying that both he and Junyong’s mother had experienced having their children involved in serious car accidents.
However, he conceded that his daughter was “more fortunate”. Not only is she still alive, she’s also received help from many people.
Thus, he decided to spread the goodwill and give part of his donation to Junyong’s mother, in Lovelynn’s name.
It’s a way to pass on the kindness, he added.
In response, Junyong’s mother, known only as Mdm Tan, thanked Mr Tan for his generous donation, reported Zaobao.
She expressed a wish to meet him and his family, and they met on Saturday (7 Nov).
When she heard about Lovelynn’s accident, she had sympathised with their family, and when her son met with an accident he might have been in a coma too, she said.
Though Lovelynn may have woken up, her family’s ordeal still isn’t over.
In a Facebook update on Thursday (5 Nov), Mr Tan said she’s still uncommunicative, and doctors have said that she has a blood clot that’s affecting her memory and brain cognitive response.
Mr Tan also shared that Lovelynn will have to receive nourishment via a feeding tube for up to 12 weeks as she can’t swallow due to this impairment.
Additionally, her cast will be removed only after about 15 weeks, and her injuries will take about 3 to 6 months to fully heal.
Thus, there’s still a long road to recovery for her.
Kudos to Mr Tan for chanelling part of his funds to another family in a similar plight.
While he could easily have been too worried about his own daughter to care, it’s admirable that he saw a chance to help a mother whose child had met an even worse fate.
MS News sends our deepest condolences to Mdm Tan’s family, and sincerely hope that Lovelynn recovers fully from her injuries.
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Featured images adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
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