MADAM Hasnah Yusof thought she was hallucinating when she saw a big toe lying on the road.

She saw the bloodied bit by the side of the road while she was walking back to her house from the mosque on Wednesday afternoon, reported Harian Metro.

Although she wondered what had happened, she felt too squeamish to pick it up and walked on.

Little did she realise that it belonged to her 3-year-old granddaughter.

The toe had been accidentally severed while the girl was on a bicycle with her cousin.

As soon as Madam Hasnah entered her house, she saw her eldest granddaughter, Asrah Zulkifli, 13, crying.

And the story of the severed toe tumbled out.

Asrah had been riding the bicycle with cousin Siti Hajar Saharuddin on pillion at about 1.30pm in Sarang Burung village, in Tumpat, Kelantan.

Then Siti Hajar's toe became caught in the bicycle chain, causing the two-wheeler to halt abruptly and toppling the girls from the seat.

A horrified Madam Hasnah said: 'I quickly ran about the house looking for Siti Hajar to examine her toe. I saw that she was missing her big toe on the right foot.

'I was shocked. Then I remembered the big toe I saw lying on the road and told Asrah to retrieve it.'

Madam Hasnah put the toe in a plastic bag and rushed both the girl and the toe to Tumpat Hospital's emergency department.

After preliminary treatment, the girl was then rushed to the nearby Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Doctors there told Madam Hasnah that the outlook was dim.

Said the grandmother: 'Her condition seems stable but doctors are still trying to reattach the toe.

'They said that it is difficult to re-attach it because it was not a clean cut. They explained that even if the toe is successfully re-attached, it would not heal to back to its normal position.'

She continued: 'My granddaughter has been put in a normal ward until she gets better.'

Despite the gloomy news, Madam Hasnah is hopeful and expects her granddaughter's big toe to be re-attached soon, and successfully.

She said: 'Before this incident, she has never played with a bicycle or rode on it.

'...She was a lively and cheerful girl before and now, she is withdrawn and quiet.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 22, 2008.