A 19-year-old aspiring lawyer and taekwondo world champion, Isabelle Sava, has died suddenly in East London.
Sava, a black belt and law student at Queen Mary University of London, was reportedly found unconscious in her bed last week after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest in her sleep.
Emergency services, including ambulance and air ambulance teams, reportedly attempted to resuscitate her, but their efforts were unsuccessful. She was subsequently pronounced dead.
Sava was the only child of Laura and Ovi Sava.
A family friend, Adriana Agache, has since launched a fundraising campaign to support the bereaved family and described Isabelle’s death as an “unexpected” and devastating loss.
“It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I am creating this fundraiser on behalf of my dear friends, Laura and Ovi Sava, who are facing every parent’s worst nightmare – the sudden and unimaginable loss of their beautiful and only daughter, Isabelle, at just 19 years old,” the fundraiser stated.
The statement described Isabelle as a young woman with an extraordinary future ahead of her, noting that she was preparing to begin her second year studying LLB Law at Queen Mary University of London.
She reportedly hoped to become a commercial lawyer and was actively involved in the university’s Law Society, Commercial Awareness Society and Student Advancement Society.
She also worked as a student blog writer for the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre, where one of her legal articles was published in 2026.
The fundraiser said Isabelle was passionate about building a career in law and consistently sought opportunities to gain legal experience and prepare for her professional future.
Beyond her academic pursuits, Isabelle was a black belt in taekwondo and had achieved world champion status in the sport.
Her sudden death has left family, friends and members of her university community mourning the loss of a young woman described as energetic, ambitious and full of promise.
An investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death is ongoing.
