kids

'The window was now fully open': How a split second accident changed a young family forever.

Spencer, the son of Holly Bishop and Robert Devlin, fell from the balcony of their second-floor Lagos apartment on Saturday morning while Bishop was in another room, cleaning.

Spencer was rushed to hospital, but died that night from his injuries.

“He was a beautiful boy, such a lovely nature,” Bishop’s friend Tammy Dower tells Mamamia.

“So heartbreaking that he is no longer with us.”

Dower says she received a call from Bishop just after Spencer passed away.

“Her voice and the sound of her cries instantly broke my heart into a million pieces,”she says.

“She told me that she had been cleaning in the morning and Spencer was following her around as he always did. She had opened the window in Spencer’s room a little bit to air the apartment and let floors dry. She said he then was playing in the bathroom, banging around on the cupboards.”

“Mummy, why are my legs hairy and yours are smooth?” Holly Wainwright was at a loss for words when her daughter asked her this very hairy question. How would you answer? Post continues after audio….

Dower says Bishop had told Spencer to come out of the bathroom and he had followed her back into the living room.

“She then continued to clean the apartment and again couldn’t see Spencer. She thought he was getting up to mischief as kids do when they go quiet so she went past the bathroom and didn’t see him and then into his room and found that he wasn’t there. She panicked and then noticed that the window was now fully open and ran over to look.

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“She saw little Spencer on the ground with people surrounding him and she ran straight down the stairs to him. His breathing was very laboured.”

Dower says an ambulance was called immediately, and Bishop was distraught as she tried to communicate with authorities.

“Waiting at hospital they told Holly and Rob that Spencer’s brain function was already gone, but they both still held onto hope that he would pull through,” Bishop said.

“Unfortunately the extent of his injuries was just too much for his small body and he passed away peacefully.”

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“It was just a freak accident that could happen to any of us in a split second.”

Dower has set up a GoFundMe page for her friend.

“No one puts money away for their 18-month- old’s funeral,” she says. “It will hopefully help them cover the cost in full for this and anything else they need to get through this tough time.”

Dower tells Mamamia that Bishop has her mother with her in Portugal for support.

“Her mum has flown over to be with her. I would be there too, but I’m currently 38 weeks pregnant.”

Bishop and Devlin, who is from the UK, had been living in Portugal, and Spencer was born there.

“No parent should ever have to bury their baby, and especially in such tragic circumstances,” Dower says.

If you'd like to support Holly and Robert during this horrific time, you can donate via the GoFundMe page. As it currently stands, the page has raised $2620 of their $5000 goal.