SWILLAND: Teenagers have honoured the memory of an “inspirational” friend who died from cystic fibrosis by raising money for a charity to help others with the disease.

Georgia Ball was just 18 when she died from the condition on October 6, her younger brother’s birthday.

Her friends were determined to pay their own special tribute to the fun-loving teenager by holding a cake sale at Kesgrave High School, raising more than �400 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to help research into possible treatments.

CF is a serious inherited disease which mainly affects the lungs and pancreas, but can involve other organs.

Mum Tracey Ball, of High Road, Swilland, was touched to hear about the teenagers’ efforts in memory of her “angel”.

The 44-year-old said: “She has touched so many people’s lives. She was very gracious and dignified right up to the end, and she never stopped wanting to help people.

“She was always more concerned about how everybody else was than how she was. She was just perfect – if you can have a perfect girl, she was it.

“She had a wicked sense of humour. If there was ever any mischief, Georgia was generally behind it. But she had a huge belief in angels, and she was one herself. I believe she’s with the angels now.”

Ipswich Town fan Georgia was given the Rosemary Row award for determination to succeed during prize-giving at Suffolk New College, where she studied travel and tourism. Friends recalled how she refused to take her wheelchair or oxygen up with her to collect it, determined to get on to the stage under her own steam.

Becky Kent, who helped organise the bake sale, said: “She could be sitting in hospital with her oxygen on and everything and still say she was fine. She came to one of our youth club events straight from hospital one night, just because she wanted to be there with all of us.

“When she died, we decided we had to do something and she would have loved a cake sale, so we put as much pink and glitter on everything as we could.”

The 17-year-old added: “She was so happy and so inspirational because she had a difficult life and there was so much she could have got down about, but I never saw her upset.

“It’s a substantial amount of money and it was great to think about how that could help someone who has the same condition as Georgia. It was really emotional.”

n Do you want to pay your own tribute to Georgia? Call the newsdesk on 01473 324788.