Toddler miraculously survives after 40ft fall from fourth floor flat

Critical: Joshua has spent days under specialist care of medics at King's College Hospital
Charlotte Cribben
Sebastian Mann18 January 2016

A toddler had a miraculous escape after falling four floors from the window of a flat in south-east London, his mother said.

Charlotte Cribben said her 20-month-old son Joshua was left fighting for his life after the 40 foot plunge onto concrete outside the family home in Thamesmead.

The toddler needed brain surgery to remove a blood clot after the incident, which Ms Cribben said happened when he somehow unlocked the window and clambered out.

But today his mother revealed that her son has been taken off life support as his condition finally improves after the fall on January 9.

Ms Cribben said she was alerted to the plunge only when she heard her three-year-old daughter Aaliyah's screams.

She told the Standard: “Aaliyah just shouted, ‘Mum, Josh has fallen out the window’. So I ran into their room and looked out the window at him on the floor.

'Miracle boy': Charlotte Cribben with her son Joshua
Charlotte Cribben

“Then I ran downstairs – I didn’t know whether to run, to shout or to scream.”

She found her son lying face down on the concrete, scooped him up into her arms and then called an ambulance.

Paramedics arrived and rushed the toddler to hospital, where he was treated for injuries including a fractured skull, broken thigh and bruised lungs.

He has been on a critical care unit fighting for his life since the fall, but on Monday his 27-year-old mother said he had been taken off life support and begun breathing again for himself.

Joshua with sisters Destiny, right, and Aaliyah
Charlotte Cribben

The family awaits an MRI scan to determine the extent of any long-term damage, but Ms Cribben said a serious brain injury had been ruled out.

She has been unable to pick him up since the fall because of a large hip brace he is being made to wear, but Ms Cribben has barely left his side.

“I’ve got a little miracle boy,” she said. “He’s my inspiration.

“I thought I was going to be planning his funeral - not watching his recovery.”

Joshua’s sisters Aaliyah and Destiny, two, have stayed at home as Ms Cribben tends to her son.

Grandmother Tracy, Ms Cribben’s mother, has started a fundraising page to help cover expenses, including travel for family members between Eastbourne and London to look after the girls.

Ms Cribben asked for her address not to be disclosed, but said she would be complaining about the allegedly faulty window locks that she claims allowed her son so fall from the flat.

Both the London Ambulance Service and the police confirmed they were called to reports of a child having fallen from a height shortly after 9pm on January 9.

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