'I never got to say goodbye to him.. and that hurts' PAUL MARTIN'S BIG SATURDAY INTERVIEW MODEL SARAH TELLS OF DAD'S DEATH.

Byline: PAUL MARTIN

TOP Irish model Sarah Kavanagh today reveals the secret heartache that shattered her world.

The stunning blonde's father Joe collapsed and died of heart failure aged 47 while working out in a gym last July - just three hours after being given the all-clear at a hospital appointment.

To the public, 21-year-old Sarah is the fresh-faced model who has shot to stardom with her perfect figure and dazzling smile.

But now she is ready to talk for the first time about her despair opens her private family photo album exclusively to the Irish Daily Mirror.

Choking back the tears, she said: "I was absolutely devastated and it rocked my family to the core. I was so close to my dad and I'll never forget the day he died."

She picks up a photo tinged with tragedy - her father proudly standing over a young Sarah at her birthday party, surrounded by cake, streamers and candles. She flashes her infectious smile but her mind quickly returns to that fateful day last July 7.

Sarah recalled: "We were all chatting away about our plans and dad was in great humour - making fun of a picture-shoot I had done where they only showed my hands and tummy.

"It was a normal day so there were no dramatic 'I love yous' or 'goodbyes' or anything. I never got to say goodbye properly to him and that hurts.

"Later in the day he went off to the hospital for a check-up on his heart because there had been a few concerns but they told him everything was fine and he just got on with his normal daily routine.

"But three hours later he was dead. He had been working out and then just suddenly collapsed and his brain shut down. He was kept on a life-support machine for two nights but we had to take the agonising decision of turning it off. There was no chance he would recover. In truth, he was dead as soon as he collapsed."

Sarah, who still lives with her mum Kate and sister Rachel in Terenure, looks immaculately groomed and incredibly striking as when we meet in the bustling bar of the Fitzwilliam hotel near Dublin's St Stephen's Green on a sunny evening.

She reminds me of Katy French in her pristine appearance and her presence certainly sparks the same reaction that Katy could command.

But Sarah's far from the image-obsessed self-conscious identikit models who swarm the industry.

She has a mischievous sense of humour - as I discovered during a late-night party with her at Krystle just two nights before - and she can up the decibel level in the room by bursting into a loud roar of laughter and giggling even at the slightest joke.

It's easy to see why she's one of the most popular models on the circuit - with her colleagues and the public alike. Sipping a juice and fiddling with her hair, she admitted she was too shocked to mourn her loss at the start.

She added: "I went into shock mode and just started to try and sort everything out for the rest of the family.

"I remember getting the call from the hospital. They didn't say how serious it was but they just advised us to get up there as soon as possible. In my heart I knew then that it was bad."

For the next 48 hours Sarah and her family kept a vigil by his bedside and prayed for a miracle. It never came. She said: "After the second night a doctor pulled us into a room and said that he was not going to recover and we would need to make a decision if we wanted to keep him on the life-support machine.

"We knew what we had to do and we prepared to let dad go. Looking back at the whole experience it's still hard to relate too because I was in some kind of a cruise control.

"I started organising the funeral straight away. I felt I owed it to my mum and sister to sort those things so they could focus on the tragedy and deal with it their own way."

Sarah still struggles to understand why her father died. She said: "If you look at it, it really made no sense at all. He was young, he didn't drink or smoke and he was one of the healthiest eaters I have ever known." Sarah has vowed to make a success of her future as the ultimate tribute to her dad and she's at the top of her game in the Dublin modelling scene.

She said: "I feel I have to succeed and do what would have made dad proud.

I'm also a qualified make-up artist and I do weddings, fashion shows and other important occasions."

And she's a winner in the love stakes too. Sarah is dating Krystle nightclub manager Conor Buckley and added: "He is the perfect man for me.

He is a best friend and a great boyfriend all rolled into one.

"I'm going off to make him dinner. I'm not the greatest cook in the world but I'm learning."

She raises the roof one more time with that trademark giggle and announces: "One day maybe I'll be a domestic goddess!"

Conor is a best friend and a great boyfriend all rolled into one

CAPTION(S):

DADDY'S GIRL Sarah's dad jokes around with his bubbly daughter; PROUD One-week-old and Sarah's already the centre of attraction; BOND Devoted Joe helps Sarah celebrate her birthday at home; TOP OF POPS Sarah and Joe share a Christmas moment; HAPPY Hols smiles in 1988