On 30 September 2025, 17-year-old Lily Marie Thomason lost her mother, Jane Thomason, after an almost ten-year battle against lung cancer.
Jane was first diagnosed with double lung cancer and had her upper lobes of her lungs removed in 2008 while she was pregnant with Lily Marie.
From 2015 to 2025, she had 12 lung cancer tumours in the lower lobes of her lungs, having radiation to treat them. She contracted pneumonia numerous times in the last four years and had severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema. In 2023, she suffered a heart attack.
After turning 60, Jane, with a weakened immune system after her final radiation treatment on 17 September, passed away after contracting the flu and pneumonia.
Lily Marie’s been her mother’s only carer since she was eight years old. She is now orphaned.
“My mum was my best friend and my person,” Lily told us.
“Neither my mum nor I had any idea she was going to die this soon. She got sick really quickly. I have no living family members. I am completely alone.”
Rhiannah Wightman, who is now Lily Marie’s legal guardian, first met Jane when her son and Lily Marie attended daycare.
“Neither my mum nor I had any idea she was going to die this soon. She got sick really quickly. I have no living family members. I am completely alone.”
“I live out in Windsor, and at the moment, we are spending a few nights in Windsor as I have children of my own to care for, and then a few nights here, on the Northern Beaches, to support Lily,” Rhiannah said.
Lily’s aim is to stay on the Northern Beaches, living in the housing commission home she shared with her mum, and to finish her HSC at Cromer High. In what should’ve been Lily’s first day of Year 12, was the day of her mum’s funeral.
“Our only source of income was my mother’s disability pension, so now I am left struggling with finances while working through my grieving process,” Lily Marie added.
Rhiannah is in the process of applying for Lily Marie to remain in her family home, as well as applying for Centrelink financial support for Lily Marie.
“I’ve actually also lost my job as I wasn’t able to tell my employer when I’d be able to return to work, as Lily Marie is my priority right now,” Rhiannah explained.
Rhiannah has set up a GoFundMe to ask for the community’s help to cover funeral costs, settle outstanding debts and provide some stability for Lily as she heals.
“[Lily Marie’s] a bright, resilient young woman on the cusp of adulthood, but the sudden loss of her mum has left us both reeling and now we’re facing the harsh realities of funeral arrangements, and the everyday costs of keeping a roof over our heads while navigating this new chapter,” Rhiannah wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Lily Marie, who has made many contributions to her school community as a CAPA leader, an SRC member and a school prefect, said she loves her school and really wants to finish her HSC. One of her goals after the HSC is to work in professional musical theatre in stage management or lighting.
“I have such strong passions and so many dreams for my future, but my life has just drastically changed for the worse,” she said.
“My mother was a well-known and loved member of our community. She was all I had, and I feel so heartbroken and alone without her.”
If you’d like to support Lily Marie, please donate to her GoFundMe which you can find here. At the time of publication, $3,060 (or 38 per cent of their $8,000 goal) has been raised.
