My goddaughter Jill was born on October 5th 1979 and passed away on May 9th 2004. She was only 24 when she died after a long battle with cystic fibrosis. She was a brave and beautiful inspiration to everyone that knew her. 

Cystic Fibrosis is the UK's most common life-threatening, inherited disease. It is a genetic disease that affects a number of organs in the body especially the lungs and pancreas by clogging them with a thick, sticky mucus. At present there is no cure, but the faulty gene has been identified and doctors and scientists are working to find ways of repairing or replacing it. One of the main objectives of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust is to fund this work. Jill achieved so much during her short life; she was an amazing artist; obtained a degree, an award from the C F Trust and brought so much fun and laughter into our lives. We miss her terribly.

Jill grew up in Marlow, Buckinghamshire; she did well at school and was a popular pupil. She loved gymnastics and art. After leaving school she moved to Nottingham with her mother and enrolled at Nottingham University to study art. Around 2002 she moved back South to Staines, Middlesex in order to be closer to the Brompton Hospital in Kensington where she spent much of her later life. Despite her illness she never complained and was loved by all the hospital staff. She decorated her hospital room with fairy lights and anything pink and fluffy. Pink and fluffy pretty much summed Jill up, it was a colour she wore often and at times even her hair was pink! She had a great sense of decoration and style and would come up with amazing ideas for her artwork. One of her projects involved making a quilt out of cabbage leaves and it was displayed on a bed complete with Jill sleeping in it! She was ill for months afterwards because the decaying leaves affected her lungs but she didn't mind suffering for her art one bit. To her the rotting leaves represented her lungs. 

In February 2004 Jill underwent a double lung transplant. We hoped it would lead to a better quality of life for her and our thoughts and prayers were with the family who lost a child in order to give Jill the gift of life. Sadly it wasn’t meant to be; initially Jill appeared to be doing well but after 3 months developed an infection in her heart, lungs and brain. She underwent heart surgery, there were complications and she basically never fully regained consciousness. Her vital organs were shutting down; there was nothing more the doctors could do. Only the life support machine was keeping her alive. Her family and I were with her at the end, holding her hands and telling her how much we loved her. Her life support machine was switched off and she slipped away peacefully, free of pain and suffering.

I set up this memorial website in her name and help to raise money for the C F Trust and awareness about this life threatening disease. We try to remember the good times, like the day I was pushing her over the bridge in Staines when she had to use a wheel chair. Gathering speed I asked her where the brake was. She replied there wasn't one! Picture if you will Jill gripping the arms and me hanging on to the handles for dear life at 60mph whilst approaching a dual carriageway! Then there was the time in hospital where we swapped places and I nearly got wheeled off to x-ray - we were terrible! There was also the small incident with my shoes being used to grow bulbs in. I didn't know about it until I saw her photographs from the exhibition!

I saved two of her last text messages and one day shortly after she died in desperation I asked for a sign she was OK. Both messages mysteriously re-sent themselves to me a matter of hours later coming up as "sender unknown" for the number. One in particular was about Concorde, Jill loved Concorde and would go and watch it take off or land at Heathrow airport whenever she was well enough. It was her way of telling me she was up there with Concorde. That was when I knew she could still hear me! 

I was Jill's godmother; she always called me her "fairy godmother". It was extremely hard to carry on without her; the grief was unbearable at times particularly Christmas and her birthday. Even now I still pick up anything pink and fluffy when I’m shopping thinking Jill would love this and then turning towards the cash desk I remember. I would always consult her about what I should wear if I was going somewhere special and ask her advice about things in general. She used to joke about the way I seemed to lurch from one disaster to the next and said I needed “someone to look after me”. Six months after she died I met up with an old friend whom I hadn't seen for years and we started seeing each other. He understands my need to talk about Jill and have what he refers to as my "Jill moments" where I recall something amusing or I'm just thinking about her a lot. We are now married; he's the love of my life and takes care of me. I know it’s all down to Jill – making sure someone is looking after me!

Jeane x

As a symbolic gesture following their wedding on 21st March 2006, Jeane and Les released white doves at Orsett Hall Essex in memory of Jill. See photo album. 

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