An Elephant For Sarah

My beautiful 26-year-old sister Sarah died tragically on the 24th of October 2024. She was my best friend and I miss her deeply. While my heart aches, I take comfort in knowing that Sarah is finally at peace.

Sarah was the kindest person I know. She always put others first, offering support, unconditional love and kindness to everyone around her. Even in passing, she was thinking of others; Sarah saved the lives of four people by donating her organs.

Sarah struggled with her mental health and expressing her emotions. Talking openly about our feelings is the one thing Sarah wishes us all to do. She wrote us a letter asking us to always try and show our emotions. It’s one of the many reasons I want to honour her memory in a way that could help others who may be struggling like our beautiful Sarah did.

As a family, we have decided to raise funds for mental health in Sarah’s memory. The Elephant In The Room Movement is an initiative that resonates deeply with us.

We would love to support their mission, ‘to give people everywhere permission to talk about their mental health as openly as they would discuss a physical ailment, without judgement or discrimination, for the better well-being of the individual, family, workplace and society’. This brings attention to the issues close to Sarah’s heart.

Sarah was passionate about fitness. She ran four half marathons in the year before she died. I want to start celebrating her memory by running The Dublin Half Marathon on the 30th of March to raise money for an Elephant in memory of Sarah. With the support of family and friends, I hope we can create something meaningful that will honour Sarah’s legacy and make a real impact on those as special as Sarah was. Thank you to Brent Pope and all in the Elephant In The Room for helping us make Sarah’s wish come true. We love you Sas - from Mum, Dad, and your 3 Musketeers: Maeve, Anna and Jane 

A few weeks ago I had a lovely meeting with Anna and her Mum, the grief in their family’s lives was extremely emotional, but what was apparent was their bravery and kindness too. As a family even in their unthinkable pain, they wanted to help others, which was a huge part of Sarah’s personality, always thinking of others first. So we decided on a beautiful pink (Sarah’s favourite colour) Elephant in her memory, a symbol of love, care, hope and permission to talk about emotions or feelings that may be troubling you. We decided on two potential venues where the elephant for Sarah may proudly stand. One in the Dental School at Trinity College, where Sarah attended, and then hopefully a second elephant, in an Organ Donation Centre. 

We will share a link soon to pink T-shirts that will not only show your support for this wonderful cause but also help raise funds, with all proceeds going to "An Elephant for Sarah". https://www.elephantintheroom.ie/the-elephant-store

On 30th March, Anna will be running The Dublin Half Marathon with a massive hole in her heart, but in the knowledge that her beautiful sister will be with her every step of the way, and that her tragic passing was not in vain, but in hope, that the message she left in her parting letter was that we all need to talk about what is going on in our lives. The shrapnel from someone dying by suicide is far reaching, and the grief it causes is immense, so please let's support Anna and her Elephant for Sarah….

Brent Pope

https://www.elephantintheroom.ie/about-elephant-in-the-room