‘Our hearts are broken beyond repair’
THE grief-stricken sister of a pregnant woman who died in hospital ten days after a road accident, has revealed she died as she held hands with her parents.
Mother-of-two Irene Lynch, 34, who was pregnant with her third child, was a front-seat passenger in a car that crashed into a wall and plunged into the water in the Menlo area, near Galway city on March 15.
Following the accident, Ms Lynch was rushed to University Hospital Galway where she spent ten days in ICU. However, the Athlone woman died from her injuries on Monday evening.
In a post on social media her sister Marcella Romaine Lynch wrote: ‘My heart is broken beyond repair. Irene my beautiful baby sister, how does life go on without you? I don’t even know how it’s possible.
‘For ten days we watched you lie there praying for you to be okay, but unfortunately God had other plans for you and your little baby, my niece or nephew.
‘If love and tears could have brought you back to us, you would have come because you have a family that loved you so much. Mammy and Daddy are devastated. They brought you into this world and they held your hands while you took your last breath while we all your family were there beside you.’
Ms Romaine Lynch said her sister is now her guardian angel. ‘Sleep tight and give Lauren a big kiss for me when you get to the gates of Heaven.
‘It was the hardest thing I ever had to deal with, losing you. But one day we will meet u again Mammy Daddy, Dympna, Marcella, Marina, Naomi, Patrick, Stephen and Breen. We all love you. I promise you we will take care of Daniel and Isobel for you.’
The driver, a man in his 40s, was brought to hospital for injuries that are not thought to be life-threatening.
The incident happened on a stretch of road known as An Lochán. No other vehicles were involved. The car hit a wall before careering across the road and crashing through a low wall adjacent to the flood plain.
The car overturned and landed upside down in the water.
Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to the crash.