IN January 2018 our daughter Claire was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Despite all the treatment provided by Beaumont Hospital, Dublin and King’s College Hospital, London we lost her on April 9 this year.

Claire passed away peacefully in her own home in Monaghan, Ireland. She was 39 years of age, three weeks short of her 40th birthday. Her funeral took place on April 11.

We must express our gratitude to the friends and neighbours who have supported us over the last two months.

We must also take this opportunity to give a very special mention to two people: Enda, Claire’s husband, who never left her side during her illness and Kirsty Morris, a school friend, now an oncology nurse, who was visiting Claire when she took a turn for the worse and stayed on to help nurse her through to the end – surely the hardest and kindest thing a friend could do.

Claire was born in Winchester, our third child after Matthew and Katy, but within the year found herself in Crediton, which remained the home she always returned to until she moved to Monaghan to be with her future husband, Enda McCabe. Claire attended Landscore, Queen Elizabeth’s and Exeter College.

In Crediton she enjoyed work experience at the “Crediton Courier”.

In 2003 Claire was awarded an honours degree in History from Royal Holloway, University of London.

She then decided upon a career in law and after further study at Guildford School of Law and Exeter University and a traineeship she was admitted to the Law Society as a solicitor.

After practising law in south London for three years Claire studied for a Master’s Degree in International Studies at Seoul University, South Korea, supported by a bursary awarded by the British Korean Veterans Association and funded by Samsung. Claire graduated in 2012, her thesis focusing on the law governing the trade in endangered animals.

In September of 2012 Claire moved to Monaghan to build a new life with Enda and they were married in January 2014.

Claire’s first two years in Monaghan saw her work as a paralegal lawyer.

The plight of asylum seekers in Monaghan was a cause close to Claire’s heart and she did her best to ensure they were accorded their legal rights and to provide emotional support.

In Monaghan she began to learn the Irish language and to immerse herself in Irish traditional music. Claire had a lovely singing voice that was widely appreciated.

In 2014 Claire joined the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) as a caseworker.

Her work required her to secure and maintain communication between Irish prisoners overseas and their families back home. It also required her to travel in order to visit prisoners and liaise with local support groups and consulates.

This took her to Australia, Thailand, Peru, Uruguay and the USA.

In a tribute to Claire, Brian Hanley, the co-ordinator of ICPO, has written: “Claire O’Connell joined ICPO in the summer of 2014 as the Casework and Family Support Officer and set about her work with conscientiousness and conviction…Her remarkable empathy allowed her a sensitive and compassionate understanding of the challenges facing her clients.

“It has been humbling for us all to witness the outpouring of concern and kindness from so many of her clients since she became ill in January 2018 and we have received dozens of cards, messages and letters from clients all over the world, for example: ‘We would like to thank you for the help we received from you when John was imprisoned. We’re so very grateful. Our minds were totally at ease when you spoke to us. We don’t know if we would have got through it without you’.

“‘Thank you once again for your help Claire. I can’t tell you how much it means that there’s someone there to be my voice’.”

Claire was warm, engaging, witty, adventurous, compassionate.

She never prejudged people because of their religion, ethnicity, sexuality or past history, rather she was keen to learn their individual stories. She enriched the lives of all who knew her.

Kevin and Valerie O’Connell