'We thought he was dead': Mother describes the horrifying moment she discovered her 15-year-old son had plummeted off a 308ft cliff after tracking him by using the Find my iPhone app
- Kim Goodrick panicked when her son, 15, stopped replying to her messages
- She knew something wasn't right and tracked him using Find my iPhone
- When she and her husband arrived, there were emergency personnel assisting
- Her son had fallen off a cliff and suffered skull fractures and a brain injury
- She says the area lacked sufficient signage and he never would have taken a risk
A heartbroken mother who found her son critically injured at the base of a cliff tracked him down using the 'Find my iPhone' app.
Kim Goodrick, 53, from Eureka in New South Wales, panicked when her 15-year-old son stopped replying to her messages, and didn't arrive at the pickup point they had set after a day out with friends.
She told Daily Mail Australia her son - who we have chosen not to name - is 'generally really great at replying to messages', so she knew something was not right immediately.
She used the inbuilt iPhone app to track her son, presuming he would be with his phone, and followed it to Cape Byron.
A heartbroken mother who found her son critically injured at the base of a cliff tracked him down using the 'Find my iPhone' app
She said she and her husband were driving up to the lighthouse when they noticed all the emergency personnel.
She was told her son had fallen off a notorious cliff above Tallow Beach.
Emergency services have responded to at least seven rescues in the very same location in four years.
The friend who he had been with was stranded at the top of crumbling rocks, and had been standing there for three hours, hoping the platform didn't give way beneath him.
He had called emergency services when Mrs Goodrick's son fell, and spent hours patiently waiting to be rescued.
She said she and her husband were driving up to the lighthouse when they noticed all the emergency personnel
'My husband was convinced my son was dead,' Mrs Goodrick said.
Emergency services later confirmed he had survived the fall, but suffered extensive injuries.
He landed on his skull, and suffered a neck fracture, multiple skull fractures and a serious brain injury.
'He is in intensive care, sedated - they are slowly reducing sedation after 10 days, he is starting to move and open his eyes but it's early days.
'He's improving but is still classed as critical,' she said.
'Moving forward, the best case scenario is that we have a two year recovery period. That is best case.
She used the inbuilt iPhone app to track her son, presuming he would be with his phone, and followed it to Cape Byron
'He will never be the person he was.'
Mrs Goodrick wants to thank two fishermen who were in the area at the time and who stayed with her son prior to emergency services arriving.
'Two amazing fishermen, Adrian Miller and Chris Keevers, saw him fall near the water and helped him.
'They got him to a safe place, put a towel under his head and cared for him for nearly an hour before rescue arrived.
'They are absolute heroes. They had no training, but they did the right thing.'
The teen, who Mrs Goodrick described as 'an avid skiier, and sensible boy who understands risks,' may not have known how perilous the area he was exploring was.
The teen, who Mrs Goodrick described as 'an avid skiier, and sensible boy who understands risks,' may not have known how perilous the area he was exploring was
She said the area lacked signage, and that he and his friend 'never would have taken the risk' had he known the dangers, and that he 'always obeys warning signs'.
He had been looking forward to an international exchange to Italy for six months later this year, and has dreams of being a paleontologist.
'There has been a lot of trolling online - he's stupid and all of that. But he's not stupid. He had so much to live for and he would have never taken that risk if he had known,' she said.
'My son is such a sensible boy, for this to happen to him was just incomprehensible. It was only after I started to read the media reports and after talking to police I understood he really didn't understand the risk and neither did his friend.
'I believe if he had they would never have attempted to go up there.
'I'm not trying to blame people, I think it's definitely a system failure. It's a negligence thing. All I want is to minimise the risk of this happening again.
'People will always take risks but at least they've been warned if there is a sign,' she said.
She said the area lacked signage, and that he and his friend 'never would have taken the risk' had he known the dangers, and that he 'always obeys warning signs'
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