Mother of 2 remains in hospital after tree limb leaves her paralyzed

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - A San Francisco mother of two remains in the hospital after being seriously injured last week when a heavy tree limb came crashing down on her one week ago.

Zhou Cui Ying  was watching her daughters play at Washington Square Park in the North Beach neighborhood when the unexpected freak accident happened.

 Ying's husband, Jian Con Tan, has taken time off of work to help with their children. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses. 

From her hospital bed at San Francisco General, Zhou Cui Ying granted KTVU's Amber Lee an exclusive interview.

The 36-year-old says she's in a lot of pain and doesn't know if she'll ever be able to walk again.

"My head hurts and my back hurts. I cannot move,” said Zhou.

She says from the waist down, she's paralyzed, unable to walk.

"The bottom part, no feeling, I don't feel anything, " said Zhou who's on strong painkillers, but says she wanted to talk to KTVU about what happened.

On the afternoon of August 12, Zhou was at Washington Square Park with her daughters because they were early for their dental appointments in nearby Chinatown.

She showed photos she took of 9-year-old Angelina and 5-year-old Arosia, feeding the birds at the park shortly before the accident.

Zhou says she was focused on her daughters and never heard or saw the limb come down.

When asked if she remembered the tree falling down, Zhou replied, "No it was very fast."

She says the next thing she knew, she was in the hospital.

Her husband Tony Tan tells KTVU police picked him up from his work and rushed him to the hospital.

"Took doctors 10 hours to do all the surgery for her," said Tan.

He says his wife's spinal cord is damaged and that he and his daughters are struggling with what happened worried about what the future holds.

"I don't know what to do. I cannot go to work. Really hard for me to sleep and even at night I think about what happened for weeks and weeks. It's really sad for me," said Tan

The stay-at-home mom says her girls are her life. She’s shocked that she's in this condition.

"Sometimes, I feel sad, don't want to see another person like me," said Zhou.

She says she's speaking about what happened to her because she doesn't want it to happen to someone else.

Her hope is to be able to be walk again with her daughters.

"Maybe walking with them, playing. Yeah, make them happy.”

Zhou says she's not sure when she'll be released, but her next step is rehab.

The family says no one from the city has spoken to them.