In Memory of Jill Fairweather

Jill with her family

I first met Jill in 2019 when I joined the Facebook Aspergillosis Support Group. She was always very kind and helpful to me. I held coffee mornings for World Aspergillosis Day in 2019 & 2020 and Jill was a huge help. She sent me awareness items and WAD pins for me to sell. When she reached out on the group asking for trustees to help set up the Aspergillosis Trust charity I tentatively agreed to be involved and that is really where our story starts.

Jill’s passion, drive and dedication to the cause was a force like I’d never experienced before. Her knowledge about all things Aspergillosis, unrivalled. She worked tirelessly to help create the charity and her vision was clear; educate, raise awareness and support people around the globe.

As her health started to suffer, she asked me to take on more of the day to day administration work so that she could continue to do what Jill did best, offer support, friendship and advice to anyone who needed it. She often did this from her bed, even when that said bed was in a hospital. She was a warrior, brave and resilient, who’s thoughts were always about helping and advocating for others.

We finally met in person last September when I went to collect all the items we sell in our on-line shop. Until then Jill had been managing to continue to run the shop but we had agreed she needed more time to spend with her family and her wonderful husband, Martin. It was a very hot day and Jill was sat in the lounge with the windows open. She was frail but her eyes still sparkled and she still spoke with so much passion for what we were doing. My husband had just completed a cycle ride from Blackpool Tower to the Eiffel Tower to raise money for the charity and Jill was so excited to talk to him about his adventure and to thank him and his friends for what they had done for us. It was a lovely visit and I wish there had been time for more but Jill was growing weaker with each month and spending more and more time in hospital so it was to be our first and last meeting in person.

Jill continued to work tirelessly on all the projects she had been involved in right until the very end. Having our patient leaflets translated into 30 different languages was something that Jill was very passionate about and we were all so happy that we achieved that for her.

Jill’s dream was to make the world a better place for those affected by Aspergillosis. In creating the Aspergillosis Trust her legacy was realised and will live on. We will continue to honour her memory by working hard to ensure that everyone with aspergillosis gets the diagnosis, help and support they need.