THE brother and best friend of two sisters who died from Cystic Fibrosis are launching a fundraising drive for research into the condition.

Lianne Mofford, who would have turned 30 last weekend, died from the genetic disease in 2000, after undergoing a heart-lung transplant aged just 19.

Three years later, her sister Shanie, 21, also died, having spent her life in and out of hospital.

Tomorrow, their brother Jordan, 21, and Shanie’s best friend Lisa Herbert, 28, are holding a fun day in East Hagbourne, near Didcot – before doing a sponsored sky-dive in Lewknor on Sunday to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Miss Herbert, of Ladygrove, Didcot, first met Shanie aged nine, while at Manor Primary School, Didcot.

She said: “Shanie would have laughed at us doing this. She would be proud of what we have accomplished.

“Shanie was great. She would do anything for anybody without even considering that she had CF.”

Bournemouth University student Jordan, 21, of New Road, East Hagbourne, said mum Jacqui Polley, 53, who was nominated by Shanie as the Oxford Mail’s Supermum in 2000, has filled the family home with pictures of her two daughters, and has vowed to keep their memory alive.

He said: “I still have good memories of both of them.

Around one in 25 people in the UK carry the faulty gene which causes Cystic Fibrosis.

If two carriers have a child, the baby has a one in four chance of having the disease, which clogs the lungs and digestive system with thick, sticky mucus.

The incurable disease affects 8500 people in the UK, and just half of sufferers have a life expectancy of over 38.

Tomorrow’s fun day at East Hagbourne Recreation Ground runs from 2-5pm.

lsloan@oxfordmail.co.uk