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MOUNTAIN climber David Lim is among several people moved by the plight of Malaysian worker Abu Bakar Evos, who lost a leg and a foot in a horrific workplace accident this week.
These people who called or e-mailed The Straits Times upon reading about the 25-year-old odd-job worker's plight said they wanted to help him rebuild his life after he recovers from his injuries.
Mr Abu's left leg below his knee and his right foot were severed in a paper compactor at waste-paper recycling firm Likok in Defu Lane 4 on Tuesday. He had climbed into the compactor to clean it when the accident happened.
Mr Lim, 43, who was hit with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare, life-threatening disease that paralysed him for six months in 1998, said: 'I know what it's like to lose the use of my limbs, but Mr Abu Bakar will have a bigger challenge because he has lost his legs.'
Mr Lim, who runs a leadership consultancy, said he would wait to see what kind of help the Sabah native might need, and did not rule out financial help or recommendations to prosthetics experts.
Meanwhile, doctors at Changi General Hospital yesterday said they were able to save more of Mr Abu Bakar's right leg than they had originally thought possible.
He was supposed to have had his right leg amputated below the knee but, late yesterday morning, doctors found that it was enough to take away just his foot, up to the ankle.
Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Chong Kian Chung, who performed the operation, said there were no signs of infection, so doctors decided to keep as much of his leg as possible.
The longer the limb is preserved, the easier it will be for him to regain his walking potential, Dr Chong explained.
He described Mr Abu Bakar's post-surgery condition as stable and said that if all went well, he should be out of hospital in 10 days.
Mr Abu Bakar, a father of two with a third child on the way, will not need to worry about his hospital bill either: Likok's general manager Iris Tan told The Straits Times that the company would pick up the tab.
It is also trying to contact his family, and is applying for him to make a claim under the Workmen's Compensation Act.
The maximum compensation payable for permanent incapacity is $147,000.
carolynq@sph.com.sg
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