An aspiring lawyer and Taekwondo black belt has died aged 19 after a cardiac arrest in her sleep. Law student Isabelle Sava was found critically ill on Monday, August 17, while studying at Queen Mary University in Mile End, East London.
Emergency services, including an air ambulance, fought desperately to resuscitate her but she died. She was the only child of Laura and Ovi Sava, who have been left devastated by the unimaginable loss.
Fundraiser for funeral costs
Family friend Adriana Agache has since set up a fundraising page to support the bereaved parents with funeral costs. She said: “There are simply no words for a loss like this. 19 years was nowhere near enough. She was the kind of young woman other young people could look up to and the kind of daughter any parent would be immensely proud to call their own.”
“Laura and Ovi expected to watch Isabelle begin her second year at university. They expected to watch her complete her Law degree. They expected to stand proudly at her graduation. Instead, without warning, their entire world changed. No parent should ever have to bury their child.”
A life of achievement
Isabelle had dreamed her whole life of a career in commercial law, and was going into her second year at university to study it. She was involved with the Law Society, Commercial Awareness Society and Student Advancement Society.
She was a blog writer, and earlier this year a legal article she wrote was published by the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre. Isabelle had also been working as a tutor at Ali’s Academy for more than two years.
Adriana added: “Isabelle wasn't someone who simply dreamed about her future. Even at 19, she was already working incredibly hard to build it. She immersed herself in university life and the legal world. She actively sought opportunities to learn, gain legal experience and prepare herself for the career she wanted.
“She was intelligent, ambitious, focused and incredibly determined. She knew where she wanted to go in life, and she was prepared to work hard to get there. While she was working tirelessly towards her own future, she still found time to help others build theirs. Helping people was simply part of her nature.”
Sporting dedication
Isabelle was also a Police Cadet in her spare time. Her commitment and achievements were recognised when she received a Jack Petchey Achievement Award.
She was also very sporty, dedicating more than a decade to Taekwondo, where she achieved a second-degree black belt. In 2022, she competed at the World Taekwondo Championships in the Netherlands, where she proudly won a silver medal in sparring.
Adriana said: “Behind her black belt and silver medal were more than a decade of training, competitions, sacrifices, perseverance and countless hours of hard work. The strength and discipline Isabelle developed through Taekwondo became part of the young woman she was.
“It is difficult to comprehend how much one young woman had already achieved by the age of 19. Isabelle was kind, intelligent, loving, thoughtful, disciplined, compassionate and incredibly hardworking.”
Support for the family
Adriana has now started a GoFundMe page to help Ovi and Laura with the financial pressures that come with an unexpected tragedy. The funds raised will contribute towards Isabelle's funeral and memorial expenses, as well as other unexpected costs the family is facing following her sudden passing.
So far, it has raised more than £10,000. She added: “Anyone who knows Laura and Ovi knows how incredibly close the three of them were.
“They dedicated their lives to Isabelle – supporting her education, encouraging every dream, standing beside her throughout more than a decade of Taekwondo training and competitions, celebrating every achievement and giving her all the love and support they possibly could.
“She was their whole world. Their only child. Their greatest pride. Their future. And their greatest joy. Her life was heartbreakingly short, but the measure of a life is not simply the number of years someone lived.”
