Woman dies from fallen tree branch

The woman who had a massive eucalyptus branch fall on her while driving Friday afternoon died from her injuries Saturday.

Lisa Fellini, 47, had was airlifted to Stanford Hospital after the branch fell onto her gold 1997 Lexus and impaled her as she took a connector ramp from northbound Highway 101 to eastbound State Route 92.

She was running an errand from her job as general manager at the Hillsdale Inn when the accident happened just after 1 p.m. Friday.

Fellini, a mother of three, also worked as a dog sitter. Family and friends said she was fairly alert before being transported to Stanford.

"She was concerned about someone picking up a dog or dropping off a dog. She was trying to make sure her 3 o’clock was contacted,” said a family friend.

She was coherent after the accident and her death the following day came as a shock to the family.

Apparently, the tree branch practically split Fellini in two from her chest down and she was running on pure adrenaline when interacting with others after the accident, a family friend said.

Her former husband, Michael Fellini, told the Daily Journal her family made a mad dash from San Diego on Friday to visit her in the hospital. Michael Fellini was stunned by the randomness of the accident.

"You’d have better odds of getting the lottery numbers right than having something like this happen,” he said.

The family is eager to see a report from the California Highway Patrol on the incident.

"We don’t really know anything. We won’t know for two weeks,” Michael Fellini said.

He was also stunned by how quickly she declined after being initially alert.

"She was alert and joking and generally in good spirits. She even called her new boyfriend right after the accident about walking the dogs,” Michael Fellini said.

The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner’s Office has not conducted an autopsy and the findings will not be available for two weeks as well, a coroner’s spokesman said yesterday.

Fellini, a Redwood City resident, leaves behind twin 18-year-old boys, Kyle and Chris, and a 21-year-old daughter named Danielle.

Chris was out of town and was unable to say goodbye to his mother other than by telephone before she died.

The injuries Fellini suffered were so severe that she basically bled out all night, a family friend said. A host of friends and family were by her side until she died.

"She was holding on. She stayed alive long enough to say goodbye,” a friend said.

She was very active in her church and a co-worker at the Hillsdale Inn has started a collection fund for the family.

Donations may be dropped off at the front desk of the Hillsdale Inn, 477 E. Hillsdale Blvd.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.