The mother of the eight-year-old girl who died after falling from a Yaletown balcony last week is “surviving” but dealing with an “unimaginable” loss.
Geoff Stollery, the family spokesperson, said the girl’s mom, Mahsa, is also getting ready to welcome a baby with her partner in January.
Stollery confirmed that the little girl was in Yaletown with her father when she fell from a 23rd-floor balcony on Nov. 11.
The girl was living with her mother and stepfather, Jorge, in Squamish.
“Mahsa is well known in the community by hundreds of families there,” Stollery said, who is the owner of a child care facility where Mahsa works.
“And there’s still, I think, a real sense of shock and disbelief. And immense grief as to what’s happened,” he said.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help give Mahsa and her partner time to grieve.
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“The fundraising has been set up to assist with immediate expenses, you know, the final expenses are significant,” Stollery said.
“Mahsa had already been on leave from work. She had some health complications. She’s fine and the baby’s fine, but she was on leave. Her husband has had to step away from work as well and we don’t know what the next six to 12 months is going to bring for them and the main point of the fundraising is to allow them to focus on grieving and rebuilding and not worry about any financial pressure.”
Stollery said the eight-year-old girl was “amazing” and they want to keep her memory alive.
“We want to put a personal component to this story as opposed to just the tragic incident that took place,” he said. But going forward, there’s some very difficult days ahead, of course. So we will make sure Mahsa and Jorge have all the support that we can give them as they try to navigate these incredibly painful times.”
Stollery said the girl’s funeral will take place on Wednesday.
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