Girl (10) who died in car crash gave ‘gift of life’ to four children through organ donation

A joint funeral service in Milltown, Ireland, mourned the loss of 10-year-old Irena Raven Mereacre and her mother, Nell Saffron Raven, who died in a car crash on July 24th. The collision involved a car and a flatbed van on the R162 road in Cavan. Nell died at the scene, while Irena was airlifted to Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin, where she later passed away.

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Irena was a bright, creative child who inherited her gifts for art and writing from her mother, who was a journalist and author.

Chief celebrant Fr Sean McDermott remembered Irena as a bright, creative child who inherited her artistic talents from her mother, a journalist and author. Irena had achieved a childhood dream by appearing on RTÉ’s The Late Late Toy Show last Christmas. Fr. McDermott noted that she transformed from a shy child upon the family's move from the UK in 2019 to a "chatterbox" full of "life and joy and fun."

The family made the decision to donate Irena's organs, a choice that provided the "gift of life" to four other children. Nell Raven, born in Wales in 1973, had a distinguished career as a journalist with the Press Association in London and a novelist. She held a master's degree in creative writing from Oxford and lived in Pakistan for three years, freelancing for publications like The Telegraph. She met her second husband, Alexandru Mereacre, in Oxford in 2013, and they married in 2014. Irena was born in Oxford in 2016.

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She was born in an amniotic sac, which in many cultures is considered a sign of good luck.

The family relocated to Milltown, Ireland, in 2019, embracing a renovation project on an old cottage that became their home. Mereacre described the move as finding their belonging. The article also mentions a separate, unrelated crash in Co Laois and Glen Hansard's last movements.

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When Irena and Eveline joined Milltown school we knew that this was our place. This is where we belonged.