Family pay tribute to 'kind and caring' Tiffany Pearson who did everything she could to help

The family of Tiffany Pearson have paid tribute to their 'kind and caring' sister who worked to help other people who had disabilities.

Tiffany, from Whitby, died aged 32 on May 6, 2024, after years of work to raise money and campaign on important issues in the area. She often worked with Whitby Town FC to raise money and campaigned to raise awareness after she became paralysed.

Her younger sister, Drew Edwards, said Tiffany was tetraplegic, or paralysed from the neck down, after she tripped and fell after undergoing surgery aged just 18.

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Over the years she battled to regain her confidence, and wrote a book about her experiences, titled "Bossing Life With An SCI: Triumphs And Tribulations Through A Decade Of Paralysis!".

Now, her younger sister has paid tribute to her. Drew said: "She was, well, Tiff did a lot of fundraising for other charities and other people and that's just like the kind of person she was really.

"She was very kind and very caring. She was disabled herself so she did a lot for the disabled community."

"Sometimes she moaned a lot, but if anyone had the right to moan it was definitely Tiff! She was just a really outgoing person with a lot of dreams and ambition behind her."

Drew also highlighted some of the work Tiffany did locally to try to improve things for people with disabilities. Once, a set of steps were built at a house which blocked a ramp which provided wheelchair access and so Tiffany engaged with the owners to get the steps shaved down.

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Tiffany also helped to improve a set of traffic lights which did not have a working beep so sight impaired people could know when to cross. She worked to get it fixed so people could hear the sound.

Drew said: "It was small things, but it was small things that meant so much to people."

Tiffany's family are now working to raise money so that she can have the send off she deserves and have launched a fundraising campaign. So far, it has raised more than £2,500, and Drew said she "cried" when she saw how much people were donating.

"We just couldn't quite believe how much we raised. To us, it just shows how popular and well loved she was, and we knew she was a popular girl anyway, but this has just shown us how loved she was and how such a small community come together for well, such a small thing," Drew added.

"It isn't small to us and it absolutely means the world. I can't thank everybody enough honestly, I can't."

Drew said everyone was welcome to donate or to share the fundraising campaign. You can access it here.