Heartbreak at Christmas as brain disease kills teenager

Published on Thursday 25 December 2008 18:18

A GIFTED young student died just days before Christmas after being struck down with meningitis.

Hundreds of friends and family of Sarah Cairns gathered on Christmas Eve for the teenager's funeral.

The 18-year-old was the daughter of a renowned illustrator whose work has been published in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The fine art student herself was following in her father's footsteps before tragedy struck.

Sarah, from Clarkston, south of Glasgow, began complaining of feeling poorly the week before Christmas, and was taken to the intensive care unit of the city's Victoria Infirmary on Tuesday, 16 December.

Despite undergoing a series of tests, her condition worsened, and she died last Friday surrounded by her close family.

Her funeral took place two days ago, with around 700 people turning out to pay their respects.

Sarah's father, Brian, is an award-winning illustrator and graphic designer with clients as far afield as New York and Singapore. The 43-year-old graduate of the Glasgow School of Art has worked for an array of companies and creatives, including the film director Ridley Scott, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, the BBC, Channel 4, the Royal Mail and Conde Nast Traveller.

He began his career by setting up his studio with two colleagues, but for the past eight years, has work from a studio behind his kitchen in the family home.

Sarah, a promising artist, recently left St Ninian's High School in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, where she spent her sixth year as a prefect.

She was keen to pursue a career in the art and design field, and was in her first year of a degree in visual communications at her father's alma mater. She died with her father, mother Liz, and two brothers, Pat and Liam, by her hospital bedside.

"Sarah's parents and brothers are just devastated by what's happened," said a close family friend after the Requiem Mass at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Clarkston.

"It has been made all the more distressing by the fact that her funeral has had to be on Christmas Eve.

"Someone said they had never seen St Joseph's so full. The family had hoped she might be saved once she was admitted to hospital.

"But within 24 hours, they were told by doctors that they should not expect a happy outcome.

"Last Friday, they were forced to switch off her life-support machine."

The friend added: "Everyone is just in shock. It's hard enough to lose a child but to lose them at Christmas is just devastating."

Meningitis is caused by the inflammation of protective membranes which cover the brain and spinal cord.

It is usually contracted by a viral infection and some sufferers can respond quickly to antibiotics.

However, it can lead to death or permanent injury.

It is unclear whether other students at the Glasgow School of Art have been contacted. No-one at the art school was available for comment yesterday.