A 22-YEAR-OLD man killed in a road crash is to be buried alongside his six-year-old brother who died from heart failure three months ago.
Reece Kelly, from Draperstown, was killed in a single-vehicle collision on Newferry Road near Bellaghy, Co Derry.
The former St Colm’s High School student was a front-seat passenger in a blue BMW car which left the road at about 5pm on Thursday. He died at the scene. Three other men in the car were taken to hospital. Last night one remained critically ill. The conditions of the others were unknown.
Mr Kelly was a joiner. He formerly played for Ballinascreen GAC, where his sister Ashling and brother Sean play.
On July 31 Reece’s six-year-old brother Seamus Thayaparan died from heart failure. Seamus, who had special needs, had attended Kilronan School in Magherafelt.
The family will lay Reece to rest alongside Seamus in St Columba’s Church Cemetery in Straw, Draperstown.
Tara Devlin described her brother Reece as “energetic” and “happy” .
“He just couldn’t sit still,” she said.
“He loved fixing cars and doing cars up. He was just happy being himself. He took one day at a time.”
“We still can’t get over that we have lost two brothers/sons in 12 weeks.
“I crumbled when I was told. Three months before, we lost our little brother. He was only six and Mummy suffered a heart attack three months before we lost Seamus. It has just been a really difficult year.”
Mrs Devlin described Reece as “a family man” who doted on his three nephews and his young brother Rory (10) who “idolised” him.
She said she struggled to find words to describe how her family are feeling.
“I’m looking at Mummy and she is just empty,” she said.
“I just don’t know how much one family can actually take in such a short time.
“I’m the oldest of eight and I have to try to support everyone and have two parents to support now.
“Mummy said to me ‘God is taking them one by one, my boys, one by one’.
“The one thing keeping us going is that Reece is up there with Seamus and they have got each other.”
