Adelaide Hills mum's very lucky escape after a huge tree branch fell and snapped her leg in three places, narrowly missing her daughter. Now she faces a painful recovery and learning to walk again

Mother says she and her daughter are lucky to be alive Mum needs to relearn to walk after shocking accident READ MORE: Jenna and Andre lost their son four days after he was born - The parents have blamed his death on a series of blunders by the hospital

A single mum said she and her daughter are lucky to be alive after being hit by a falling tree branch in a shocking accident during a leisurely trip to a park.

Though four-year-old Juniper narrowly escaped injury, her mother Anna Frances-Wood’s leg was broken in three places and now she needs to learn to walk again.

‘I just heard this massive sort of cracking noise and I just felt my leg snap like a twig,’ Ms Frances-Woods told 7News from her hospital bed.

The Adelaide Hills mum had taken Juniper to Keith Stevenson Park in Mount Barker on Sunday to have fun in the playground area there.

But the fun time was brought to a sudden end when a branch fell eight metres down from an enormous gum tree directly onto them.

Single mum Anna Frances-Wood (pictured) said she and her daughter are lucky to be alive after being hit by a falling tree branch in a shocking accident during a trip to a Mt Barker park

‘I just saw (Juniper) getting crushed by the tree branch and she started screaming,’ the mum said.

Ms Frances-Woods was rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and later had surgery. Doctors said her leg was broken in three places and she will need to learn to walk again.

Friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help Ms Frances-Woods on her long road to recovering from her injuries.

‘My prognosis is still to be determined, as to whether I’ll be able to walk properly again,’ the mum said.

‘I can’t bear any load or weight on my leg for 6-12 weeks, after which I’ll need to learn to walk again, strictly no walking or hobbling.

‘I’ll be in crutches or a wheelchair. No cast, it’s been removed since having surgery, I’ll instead have a knee brace as my bones are now fixed internally with metal,’ Ms Frances-Woods said on the fundraiser site.

The GoFundMe page said she does not have extended family that ‘she can rely on as unfortunately her mother is not in the picture and her father is deaf and vision impaired’.

Witness Gabrielle’s son and husband were also pinned under the fallen branch, which she said dropped ‘at no notice’.

‘It was really one of those scary realisation moments that if she had been slightly one way that could easily have been a lot worse.’

Witness Gabrielle (pictured) said if Ms Frances-Wood ‘had been slightly one way that could easily have been a lot worse’

The tree from which the branch fell in a Mount Barker, Adelaide playground is pictured

Mount Barker Council is looking at the safety of all the trees in the Keith Stevenson Park playground.

‘Trees are part of the reason why people move to Mount Barker and we want to protect that for our community for everyone’s sake,’ a council spokesman said.

Arborists said recent stormy weather can cause trees to drop their branches, but that it’s entirely unpredictable.

‘Trees don’t fail that often and rarely hurt people. It’s very likely to be a freak accident,’ one said.