Bringing good out of enormous tragedy

January 29, 2020 in Featured News, Featured Podcasts, News

Eight years ago Elber, a native of Cork, was left fighting for her life in an incident that claimed the lives of her baby Oisín, her husband Con, and her unborn child. Elber was a guest speaker in Belvedere College SJ as part of Catholic Schools Week.

A suicidal driver, Marek Wojciechowski, deliberately drove into the family car at the end of a blissful family holiday in Devon. Police were searching for the Polish taxi man as a high-risk person after he left a four-page suicide note at home following a break-up from his wife.

In the intervening years, Elber has come to forgive Marek, whom she prays for every day. Her faith and ability to forgive has empowered her to reach out to others so that the lives of her whole family are not in vain.

Elber has set up a charity to help those affected by suicide. She has also worked with the Gardaí and police forces in Britain and Europe after lobbying them to introduce training for police officers responding to suicide attempts.

In this moving interview with Pat Coyle of Irish Jesuit Communications, she tells her story of the tragedy that befell her when she only 36, and of the journey to forgiveness that has transformed her life.