THEY were told that their daughter had been sent to the hospital after she fell and suffered some abrasions.
What they saw when they reached there horrified them. Their 10-year-old daughter, Gladys Tan, had raw pink flesh exposed on the left side of her body.
The Primary 4 student at Yangzheng Primary School suffered second-degree burns to her left arm, legand cheek.
Said Mrs Tan: "When I saw her, I felt like my heart broke to pieces."
The 39-year-old housewife said she could only watch as her little girl cried out in pain while her wounds were being cleaned.
She recounted: "Gladys would cry out, but I couldn't do anything. When she called out to me, she sounded confused and uncertain. I think she is still in shock."
All the Tans know is that Gladys was found lyingon a metal sheet on the pavement opposite her school by two schoolmates, who then ran to get help from a teacher.
She was wearing her PE uniform, so more of her skin was exposed to the sun-baked metal sheet.
Mr Tan, 47, a housing agent, said: "I received a call from the school at about 1.30pm and was told that she had suffered some abrasions.
"School ended at 1.10pm, and Gladys didn't come home immediately as she had a co-curricular activity at 3pm.
"It would be a rush for her to come home for lunch, then return to school." During one of Gladys' brief spells of consciousness,
Mr Tan asked her to recall what happened.
All she remembered was that she had crossed the road to buy lunch near Block 329, Serangoon Avenue 3. The next thing she knew she was in hospital.
Mr Tan did not probe further as he did not want to cause her stress.
Unaware
While her parents have explained to her that she had fallen and suffered burns, Gladys remains unaware of the extent of her injuries.
Mrs Tan is worried that her daughter might not be able to take it.
She said: "She hasn't seen her reflection and I'm worried that she won't be able to accept how she looks now.
"She is like all girls. She likes being pretty. I don't know how she will react."
On top of her burns, Gladys has blisters on the palms of her hands.
Her parents said she started pinching the tips of her fingers on her left hand yesterday, stopping only when a nurse told her to.
"I don't know why she did that. Maybe she can't feel them?" said Mr Tan.
More questions linger in his mind.
He asked: "How could such a thing happen? Whose responsibility is it? Why is there such a danger at a place where there are many children?"
His sister, Madam Margaret Tan, 50, an insurance agent, went yesterday afternoon to where her niece was found to try to find out more about what could have happened.
She also decided to test the temperature of the metal sheet against her skin and touched it with her foot.
She said: "I pulled back immediately. It was extremely hot!"
The workers there told her that the metal sheets were placed on the pavement to support the equipment they use for the lift-upgrading project.
Said Madam Tan: "I am very upset by this. I treat Gladys as my own child.
"Right now, we don't know what to expect. She is covered by insurance, but we don't know how many skin grafts she will have to go through."
When The New Paper visited Gladys, she was fast asleep, having been given anaesthesia when the dead skin from her wounds was being removed.
Mr Tan, who has been keeping vigil by her bedside since the incident, said: "Her eye started swelling on Thursday night, and now it's swollen shut.
"She kept waking up at night because of the pain. The doctor has told us that he expects the swelling to subside by Sunday."
Dr Evan Woo, associate consultant of the Department of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery in KK Women's and Children's Hospital, estimates that Gladys will need to be warded between seven and 10 days.
Likely to be scarred
He said it would take three to four weeks before she can return to school.
"She will probably have some scars from her burns, and there's a chance of some facial scarring due to the burns,"he said.
Even though the temperature yesterday peaked at 33 deg C, Dr Chua Jun Jin, a plastic surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, said that Gladys' burns were probably caused by prolonged contact with the metal sheet.
He said: "A metal plate that is exposed to the sun would unlikely be hot enough to burn or cause any injury unless the person comes into (contact with) the object for too long."
Meanwhile, Mr Tan wants an explanation.
He said: "This is unacceptable. This time it is my child. What if it also happens to another child?
"I don't want another parent to go through what I am experiencing now."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
