Mother 'so traumatised with grief' she ended up in hospital

Troy Spiers died in Gulf Harbour on Wednesday. Photo / Supplied

The mother of the 11-year-old boy crushed in a lift this week was unable to attend his memorial service yesterday because she was recovering from a lifesaving operation.

Troy Spiers was playing hide-and-seek in his paternal grandfather's home at Gulf Harbour on Auckland's Whangaparaoa Peninsula on Wednesday when he was crushed.

His maternal grandfather, Alan Watson, said on Facebook that Troy's mother, Melanie Watson, "was so traumatised with grief that it exacerbated a life-threatening medical condition that she was unaware of".

"Melanie was rushed by ambulance to hospital ... and underwent a lifesaving operation," he wrote.

Mr Watson thanked the community on behalf of the family for their messages of support.

Troy's funeral will take place at Pembroke School in Oamaru, where he was a pupil, tomorrow at 2pm.

He lived in Oamaru with his father, Michael.

The memorial service was held in Auckland yesterday, where his mother and several other family members live.

Today, Pembroke School opened its office between 1pm and 3pm for Troy's relatives and friends to write tributes and memories, and to contribute photos for copying, for a tribute book to be made for the family.

Principal Brent Godfrey said today's signing had gone "really well" and many people had arrived to write their messages for the book.

"People started arriving at one and some stayed for ages and some were just in and out. Some of the staff and ex-staff turned up and they took little photos of people who turned up and then attached them to whatever they wrote and then laminated it all. We made a copy for the school and a couple of copies for the family."

Mr Godfrey said he would meet Troy's family tomorrow to give them the tribute book and to discuss final arrangements for tomorrow's funeral.

"A celebrant and the funeral parlour have been organised ... so we are just going to sort out the rest of the details tomorrow," he said, "because we want people to be able to grieve properly, we are fully supportive of the family but we also [recognise] that the rest of the children in that year group need a chance to say goodbye and those sorts of things. Otherwise, he [Troy] has just sort of disappeared and that is not a great thing to happen."

Last week, Mr Godfrey described Troy as a really nice boy who loved competition and was considerate beyond his years.

"He would put 150 per cent into everything. He was sporty and had a lot of friends. He was a never-give-up type of kid who would give anything a go."

Of the accident, a builder at the Gulf Harbour property said Troy had gone missing during the hide-and-seek game and was found at about 1pm by his grandfather, Dennis Spiers, in the lift shaft of the three-level home.

Troy had severe head injuries, and was unresponsive. The builder frantically performed CPR on him in a bid to revive him. Ambulance staff took over when they arrived, but were unsuccessful.