Tragic Jo Ferguson ‘never lost her wild sense of humour’ despite her declining health

Celebrity stylist Jo Ferguson died on Wednesday at the age of 46 from suspected liver and kidney failure.

And as tributes pour in for the late socialite, friends and colleagues have offered a rare glimpse into the life of the troubled party girl.

According to those closest to Jo, she ‘never lost her wild sense of humour’ despite being terribly ill and was ‘enthusiastic about life’ until the very end.

Talent manager Annie Kelly, who works with the likes of supermodel Miranda Kerr, said that Jo ‘could light up a room with her energy and smile’.

‘Despite her health battles, she never lost her wild sense of humour and still had me in tears of laughter when we spoke. I have so many wonderful memories that I will cherish,’ Annie told The Daily Telegraph. 

Media personality Deborah Thomas was a colleague of Jo’s at Cleo magazine in the late ’90s and said her friend was ‘always so full of life and fun’.

Deborah said they would regularly catch up for lunch and that she loved spending time with her.

‘It was always a pleasure to spend time with Jo as she bubbled over with enthusiasm about life even though more recently she faced many challenges. I am devastated by the loss of a beautiful soul who has tragically left us way too soon.’

Jo died in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with her brother Scott telling The Daily Telegraph that he was devastated by the loss of his ‘inspirational’ sister. 

It’s suspected that she died from liver and kidney failure.  

In 2016, Jo had a near-death experience which saw her withdraw completely from the spotlight. The accident was so bad, she had complications for years, leading to an almost constant battle with ill health.

She described what happened in a Facebook post at the time, writing: ‘I slipped and fell down 27 stairs at my apartment at 8:20am on a Sunday and knocked myself out immediately, gashing my temple on the stairs and losing four litres of blood.

‘I’d been unconscious for five hours when a friend found me and called the ambulance. I ended up needing three blood transfusions and 38 stitches to the head. I was told I was 20 minutes from death due to the blood loss.’

After this accident, she left Sydney and returned to Adelaide to be closer to her family.  

In January, Jo revealed she had been hospitalised with blood poisoning due to a complication from a blood transfusion following the 2016 incident.

She told The Sydney Morning Herald she had been given the wrong blood type, which caused years of nausea and lightheadedness.

‘They gave me B-positive and I am A-positive. I had 9.1 litres of poisonous blood drained from my body, I was close to death and said I had six months to live,’ she said.

She was placed on life support in March, only to be discharged and then readmitted.

While in and out of hospital this year, Jo claimed that many of her personal belongings had been stolen.

Following her discharge from hospital last month, she wrote on Facebook: ‘After being placed on life support a week ago how the body reacts is amazing. Did someone say coronavirus? Wait until you are really sick to cry wolf.’