Brave Bridie, 13, dies from rare illness

A girl who touched the hearts of people in London and Essex has lost her battle against a genetic disorder.

Bridie Philpott, 13, died peacefully this month at a hospice in Thundersley, Essex. She and her brother John, 15, who remains a patient at Little Havens Children's Hospice, were told in 2004 that they were the only known carriers in Britain of a lethal strand of a neurological illness.

The Variant Late Infantile strand of Batten Disease affects nerves, muscles and the brain, leaving patients blind and bedridden. It is so rare that hardly any funding is available for research into the condition.

A researcher at University College in London has been trying to find a cure and residents and businesses in Barking and Dagenham have been raising money to pay for it.

Seven years ago Bridie and John, from Chadwell St Mary, near Grays, were healthy children who could run, talk and see. But doctors told their parents John and Marina that they would die before reaching adulthood.

Bridie's aunt Joanne Richardson, 44, from Dagenham, said: "Bridie touched the hearts of everyone who knew her. She was loved by many and is going to be sadly missed."