Mother died from balcony fall after opening Christmas Day presents
A MUM-OF-TWO from west London died on Christmas Day just after opening presents with her family.
Sharon Anne Daly-O’Dwyer, a barmaid, fell from her fourth floor apartment in Shepherd’s Bush after telling her children she was just going out for a cigarette on the balcony, reports the Mirror.
The 51-year-old’s children Taylor and Drew Daly heard a loud bang and rushed outside to check on their mum, before spotting her on the ground below.
Sharon’s daughter Taylor, 22, rushed downstairs in her pyjamas and stayed by her mum’s side until her body was taken away.
Taylor told The Mirror: “I ran down to try and help her but it was pretty obvious she had died – she wasn’t breathing and her eyes were open.
“I held her hand when they stopped the CPR and closed her eyes when they said they couldn’t do anymore. I gave her a kiss and said I love you.”
After the paramedics stopped their efforts to resuscitate her, the undertakers took Sharon’s body away.
Taylor, who described Sharon as ‘the best mum’, has no idea how the fall happened and said the family was having a normal Christmas morning beforehand.
The single mum added: “She was really happy with her presents.
“She said she was going to go back to bed before making dinner but would just have a cigarette.
“We were inside for two minutes when we heard a bang.”
Taylor initially thought her mum had fallen down the stairs when she heard the noise, however she was not on the stairs when she checked.
“My brother looked over the side (of the balcony) and said ‘she’s down there’,” Taylor told The Mirror.
“We were just screaming.” Drew, 19, who received a scholarship to study psychology at Loughborough University, ran straight back inside the flat after seeing the horrific scene. He hugged his one-year-old nephew Harley while Taylor rushed downstairs to her mum’s side.
Taylor’s best friend Georgie Dileo, 23, who described Sharon as her “second mum”, received a call from Taylor about the fall and arrived before paramedics, finding her friend sat near her mother’s body.
“Taylor didn’t move from her side until the end of the day when the undertakers came,” Georgie told The Mirror.
She added that Sharon had been “spoilt with presents” on Christmas morning.
One heartbreaking picture taken that day shows Sharon beaming with a new bag she received from her daughter as a Christmas present.
Georgie, who was due to visit the family in the afternoon, said the tragedy is being treated as an accident.
Sharon was ‘the life and soul of pubs” in Shepherd’s Bush and was hardest worker Georgie said she had ever met.
However, she lost her job as a result of the pandemic in March and had been struggling to find work ever since.
Georgie has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family pay for the funeral.
She also hopes it might mean Taylor can move into a new home as the family flat has now become a constant reminder of what happened.
The fundraising page has already received more than £7,000, with many donations from regulars who were friends with Sharon.
Her daughter Taylor told The Mirror: “We don’t have any savings to give her a proper funeral.
“I won’t be able to forgive myself if she doesn’t get the send-off she deserves.”