Elana’ s light shines on
Anyone who met Elana-May Blackmore couldn’ t help but be impacted by her personality, her faith and her passion to include everyone. Elana was one of our young Roofbreakers, living in Devon. Elana was herself autistic, with a physical disability which made walking more difficult, yet she always had a heart to reach out to others, especially to bring people to know Jesus. We were devastated to hear of her death at the age of 24 following a sudden stroke last year. But Elana’ s legacy lives on, in many different ways …
Elana says,“ What I love is that Christ saw the man; He saw potential; He saw faith. Jesus saw the blind man’ s heart, not what his physical limitation was.” She goes on to speak about how we need to get to know people for who they are and the importance of making sure everyone’ s voices can be heard.
Through the Roof has been blessed to be named as one of the two charities to benefit from donations in memory of Elana, so those donations will help to ensure the work of transforming lives continues. A total of over £ 2,600 was given in donations in her memory. We treasure that memory, and the impact Elana had on so many lives, and we are so honoured to play a part in continuing the legacy of Elana’ s life.
People will also continue to be impacted by Elana through a video her parents have shared with us which we will use in training for churches. In the video Elana speaks about the passage in John chapter 9 where Jesus meets the man blind from birth.
Elana absolutely lived this message out herself. In her own village, she led a team running monthly services called‘ Celebrate Together’ for people with additional needs, bringing the Bible to life in a visual way, in an atmosphere where everyone could feel relaxed and accepted. Numbers attending this service amazingly grew from four to forty over the time that Elana was involved!
Elana even donated her previous wheelchair to Through the Roof to be sent out to a developing country. She was so excited to know that it would completely change someone’ s life.
We thank God for the life of Elana, the impact she had on so many people, and the legacy she leaves which will continue to transform lives and bring others to Jesus. Please pray: for all those whose lives were touched by Elana. Pray that others will catch her passion and vision for church disability inclusion.
Vital Link Spring 2026 | www. throughtheroof. org