Siobhan, of Corralea, Belcoo, a first year pharmacy student at John Moore University in Liverpool, died from a brain haemorrhage in hospital in Liverpool on Friday, April 11, having only taken ill the previous afternoon.

    Her parents, Conor and Geraldine, who travelled over to her hospital bedside, were asked to consider donating her organs. They were joined in Liverpool by their son, Seamus, a student at Queen’s University, Belfast, and made the final decision as a family. They decided it was what she would have wanted.

    The Leonards agreed to donate all her major organs, including her liver, heart, lungs, kidneys and also decided on tissue donation.

    They have been told her heart and lungs went to a 15-year-old cystic fibrosis sufferer at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her kidneys went to a 52-year-old woman in Leeds and a 71-year-old man in Manchester, while her liver went to a 58-year-old man in Birmingham. Tissue can be used for six months and there could be many recipients of that.

    The family is aware that the donations have been satisfactory and through their organ co-ordinator, whom they felt has been very understanding and informative, they will receive updates.

    They talk positively about the life-saving and life enhancing qualities of being a donor. For them, donation was a good decision and it was not a difficult one for them to make, although they feel it is a personal decision for everyone. The family also became aware from Siobhan’s friends that they had discussed donation and it was something she had been willing to do.

    For the Leonards, Siobhan’s sudden and untimely death came as a tremendous shock.

    A former student of St. Columban’s School, Belcoo and Mount Lourdes Convent Grammar School, Enniskillen, it was her ambition to do pharmacy and she was really enjoying her studies in Liverpool. That Saturday (the day after her death), she had been due to come home for Easter.

    Her remains came home on the subsequent Tuesday morning to the family home at Corralea, Belcoo, and her funeral service, which was attended by tutors and friends from her university, as well as those who had travelled from far and near, took place on the following Wednesday at the nearby Holywell Church.

    The service was led by the Rev. Fr. Paddy Sheridan, a friend of the family. Other participants included: the Rev. Frs. Clerkin, Finnegan, McGuinness, O’Donnell, Comiskey, Gallagher and Martin.

    Her Godparents, Sean Burns (her uncle) and Rosaleen Dolan (her grand aunt) delivered readings. Prayers of the Faithful were led by her cousins and her brother, Seamus gave the Reflection.

    Gifts were brought up by her brother, Seamus, sister, Aine and her friends. Burial took place in the family plot at Holywell.

    Siobhan is survived by her parents, Conor (who works at BT), and Geraldine (who works at First Trust Bank); her brothers, Seamus (at Queen’s) and Aidan (a pupil at St. Michael’s College) and her sister, Aine (a p1 pupil at St. Columban’s).

    She leaves her grandparents, Maureen Leonard and Frank and Winnie Burns; her uncle, Sean Burns; her aunt, Mary Corrigan; her cousins, and the wider family circle.

    Her family has this week acknowledged the support from family and friends and also Liverpool Royal Hospital and her university.