A 56-year-old Turkish woman involved in a serious collision with a cyclist on Kingsland High Road, East London, on Tuesday 28 August, has lost her fight for life. Sakine Tezerdi passed away at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel a few days after the accident.
After a memorial service at the Alevi Cultural Centre in London, Ms Tezerdi’s body was flown back to Turkey and laid to rest in Gölbaşı, Adıyaman, from where she had emigrated to London 22 years ago.
Known as Sakine Teyze (aunt Sakine) by the local Turkish community, she had separated from her husband eleven years ago. The Dalston resident was returning home after enquiring about flights to Turkey from a local travel agent when she was hit crossing Kingsland High Road by a man travelling on an electronic bicycle.
Those who rushed to Sakine Teyze’s aid, including volunteers from the local Shacklewell Lane Mosque, told T-VINE she was bleeding heavily from her injuries. She was rushed to Royal London Hospital by the emergency services and remained in a coma for three days, before doctors declared her brain dead.
On hearing the news of her death, Ms Tezerdi’s family in Turkey – elderly mother Rahime, sister Şehriban and brother Mustafa Tezerdi – consented to a request from Royal London doctors for her organs to be donated.
Şehriban Tezerdi told Turkish media, “Throughout her life, she was such a kind, caring and helpful person. As her family, we didn’t think it was appropriate for such a person’s organs to go to waste. Sakine’s kidneys, lungs, liver, heart and pancreas will now live on in other people.”
At her funeral in Gölbaşı on Sunday, Sakine’s 85-year-old distraught mother lamented, “My cherub, your life was spent helping people. Look, even in your death, you have been useful to people my cherub. You are an angel.”
