A heartbreaking picture shows a mum-of-two holding a bag given as Christmas present taken just hours before she fell to her death from a balcony. Sharon Anne Daly-O’Dwyer, 51, died on Christmas Day when she went out to the balcony of her apartment in her dressing gown to smoke.
In the tragic picture, she can be seen holding the designer bag given to her by daughter Taylor, 22.
Taylor and her son Drew ran outside after hearing a loud bang and realised their mum had fallen from the fourth floor balcony.
They spotted Ms Daly-O’Dwyer, who had worked as a barmaid before losing her job as a result of the March COVID-19 lockdown, lying on the ground below.
Paramedics were unable to save Ms Daly-O’Dwyer who died at the scene.
Taylor sat beside her mum’s body in her pyjamas until undertakers arrived.
Taylor told The Mirror: “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 any more.
“I gave her a kiss and said, ‘I love you.’”
Taylor, who said her mum was the “best”, doesn’t know what happened in the moments before Ms Daly-O’Dwyer’s fall.
She told the paper: “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.
“My brother looked over the side of the balcony and said, ‘She’s down there.’
“We were just screaming.”
Drew, 19, hugged nephew Harley, 1, while Taylor rushed to be with her mum.
Her best friend Georgie Dileo, 23, said: “Taylor didn’t move from her side until the end of the day when the undertakers came.”
Heartbreaking photos taken shortly before the tragedy show Ms Daly-O’Dwyer smiling with her grandson.
Other snaps show her beaming with her children in the living room of the flat.
A fundraising page set up by Georgie has already raised more than $12,400 to support the family.
Taylor told the paper: “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.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission
