Tributes to Emma and ‘a heart of pure gold’
THE mother of tragic teenager Emma Sloan who died from a nut allergy paid tribute to her daughter in a heartbreaking letter at her funeral mass yesterday, telling her, ‘Sleep tight, my angel’.
More than 2,000 mourners packed into the Church of our Lady of Good Counsel, Mourne Road in Drimnagh in south Dublin, along with Emma’s parents Caroline and Raymond, her sisters Amy and Mia and her grandmother Vera.
Emma, 14, insert, who ‘dreamed of becoming a make-up artist’ unknowingly ate nuts in a satay sauce in Dublin on Wednesday night.
Caroline rushed her child to nearby Hamilton Long pharmacy to get an EpiPen – a life-saving injection for allergies – but the pharmacist declined to sell it to her when she didn’t have a prescription.
She was told to bring Emma to A&E, but they only travelled a few yards when the teenager collapsed and died.
Emma’s mother was heard shouting, ‘My daughter is dying.’
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) has begun an investigation into her death, which is also under garda investigation. In a letter read by Emma’s godfather Mark at the funeral yesterday, Emma’s mother Caroline said her daughter had ‘a heart of pure gold’.
She said: ‘My beautiful Emma, there are no words to describe the devastation we are feeling. She wasn’t just beautiful on the outside, she was beautiful on the inside. She had a unique sense of style and could put an outfit together like no one else. She loved her gran Vera so much and idolised her sisters Amy and Mia.
‘Emma did a lot in her 14 years – more than most people would do in 40. But she will never see another birthday or Christmas again.’
The Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald attended the service. One of Emma’s teachers urged her classmates to take care of each other and stay strong in the weeks ahead.
The school held a service for their pupils this week and the children were invited back to the school yesterday where they could ‘comfort each other’.
Drimnagh parish priest Fr Dave Brannigan said the community had ‘been united by grief, loss and shock’.
Fr Brannigan said the church’s capacity was for 2,000 people and that the fact that the church was full was ‘testament to how popular Emma was’.
Emma’s coffin left the church to Ellie Goulding’s ‘How Long Will I Love You’ while her classmates released hundreds of red and white heart-shaped balloons outside.