Girl who lost right fingers in sugar cane juicer accident learning to use her left hand

SINGAPORE - Student Tan Li Xuan, 14, who lost some of her fingers on her right hand two weeks ago, is learning to use her left hand to eat and write.

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She told Razor TV that she had been helping her father at his stall since she was in Primary 5 or 6.

Starting off by helping out every Saturday, Li Xuan started to take turns with her brother and sister after some renovations were completed at the stall. She would help her dad out when no one else could, she said.

"Every day I tell myself I can still use my left hand. At least you'll survive, and have other parts of your body," the teen told a reporter.

"I'm right handed but I have played around with my left hand before (the accident)," she said, adding that she would have to practise using her left hand more. She also said that th handwriting was "very ugly" on her left hand.

She also talked about Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit on Sunday, describing him as "very friendly".

"I (was) very nervous and awkward," she said. Nevertheless, PM Lee managed to encourage Li Xuan with a story of John Wesley Powell, a soldier who lost an arm in the American Civil War.