The mother of the 11-year-old boy crushed in an Auckland lift shaft will miss his funeral service in Oamaru today because she has been on life support after an emergency operation.
Troy Spiers was playing hide-and-seek with his siblings in his paternal grandfather's home at Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula on Wednesday when he was killed.
The next day, his mother, Melanie Watson, was rushed to hospital after an abscess on her fallopian tube ruptured.
Ms Watson's father, prominent Auckland magician Alan Watson, said the news of Troy's death had exacerbated a medical condition his daughter hadn't been aware she had.
"I rang the ambulance [on Thursday morning] and they just took one look at her and said she needed to go in. The doctor told us it was life-threatening. That is why I have been a bit clingy and her mum has been very clingy with her."