Maid saves toddler from more hurt in Hillview accident

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Hit by a car, she was thrown 3m by the impact and landed hard on the road.

Despite this, she clung on to the toddler for dear life and refused to let go.

Until she herself blacked out.

Thanks to the maid's heroic action, the 22-month-old toddler, Cienna, escaped with just abrasions.

The maid, Mrs Jeanilyn Quijano, 43, a Filipino, was not as lucky. She had to be hospitalised for head, arm and leg injuries.
The toddler's mother, who wanted to be known only as Mrs Chen, was very grateful to her maid of three years.

"It was only because of her that my girl was only hurt like this," she said.

Mrs Quijano was taking Cienna home after school and crossing Hillview Avenue outside her employers' condominium The Petals.

She was carrying the toddler and had just stepped onto the low concrete road divider when a silver Mercedes-Benz hit her in the back, she told TNP from her hospital bed at the National University Hospital, where she is warded.

She said that the car's right side-view mirror had hit her back, causing her to fall backwards onto the windshield of the car.

When the car braked, she flew 3m onto the road, but held on to the child until she blacked out.

When Mrs Quijano awoke, she immediately thought of the toddler who was no longer with her.

"My first thought was, 'Where's the baby?'" she said. "I wanted to get up, but people told me not to move."

An ambulance arrived and took both the maid and the toddler to the hospital.

Mrs Quijano was hospitalised, but Cienna was given outpatient treatment.

Mrs Chen and a few family members have taken leave from work to look after Cienna.