Georgia Ferris’ beautiful legacy

Georgia Ferris left a little sparkle wherever she went, and that includes at the Nelson Tasman Hospice where her art adorns the walls. Her beautiful and intricate mandalas brighten the days of so many, especially since she published a special colouring book featuring some, gifting copyright to the hospice as a fundraiser.

The book is one of the incredible legacies Georgia, or Gee as she was affectionately known, leaves in a world in which she was determined to live life to the full and help others as much as she could. Celebrating the beauty of life is something she excelled in and she reminded others to do the same in some of her beautiful artwork.

Sadly, Gee passed away on November 27, 2023. She’d planned the biggest ‘after party’ celebration, as she called her funeral, which was attended by around 400 people.

“It was incredible to see she’d had such a far-reaching effect,” says her mum, Robyn. “Everything was planned to the last detail because that’s what Gee was like. She wanted a celebration, called the funeral director the ‘party planner’ and had designed her casket or ‘sleeping bag’.

Gee was admitted to the specialist palliative care unit at the hospice at the age of 27. She’d been battling Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) which for her had caused gastrointestinal failure.

“She was a beautiful young woman with a big heart,” says Robyn. “She was all about giving back.”

The intricate mandalas she’d pen she would gift to others to help brighten their days because, as Robyn describes, she was always thinking of others. She even shaved her head to raise money for a friend with cancer and donated her hair for a wig, despite being ill at the time herself too. She also set up a charity called Treasure Troves, through which she’d compile care boxes for kids and send them to hospitals around the country.

Gee had first become ill at 17. She ended up with a colostomy bag and for her the EDS condition caused gastroparesis, a disorder that slows or stops the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine. Her body rejected food orally and an intravenous line supplying nutrition became ineffective, leaving her to grow frail.

To the family’s heartbreak she began the transition to the hospice setting by mid-2020. Unstoppable in her enthusiasm for life, the resilient young woman organised a living wake and set about drawing up a bucket list (which she cheekily named with an F rather than a B) and her dedicated sister Liv vowed to do everything with her.

The list included patting a zebra and skydiving, as well as many random acts of kindness. As Gee grew too frail to achieve the activities herself, friends and family ticked them off on her behalf.

She was 27 when she was finally admitted to the hospice full-time in August 2023.

“She kept a sense of humour throughout and even organised a pyjama party for everyone at hospice,” says Robyn. “They all loved her.”

Robyn and Gee’s twin sister Liv take great comfort that through her artwork and colouring book Gee’s legacy continues to make a difference to the hospice, a place she’d called home for the last few months of her life.

“She showed everyone it’s possible to live while dying, with graciousness and dignity,” says Robyn. “With brave wings she flies.”

To support Hospice by buying Georgia’s book, visit nelsonhospice.org.nz/product/colouring-book/