“There’s really no easy way to say this, but I have cancer.” A social media post in February that changed everything. You just knew that Georgia Cardinali (O’Connor) would fight to the very end. And she did.
Georgia was told her cancer was terminal. She knew the odds were heavily stacked against her. Impossible even. But Georgia saw it differently. Georgia kept fighting. She always did. A born fighter in so many ways. Georgia never gave up. “As long as people are looking at me and my story and not giving up.” Georgia Cardinali deserved better. She deserved longer.
Even in her darkness, her thoughts lay elsewhere. “Ahh, don’t worry about me, man. I’m gonna smash it.” Despite the overwhelming odds. You believed her.
“I’m still smiling, and that smile will NEVER fade, no matter what,” Georgia said in that gut-wrenching, heartbreaking post just over four months ago. As ever, she was true to her word.
At just 25, the fight has now ended. A life taken when it had barely begun. Georgia had so much more to give. Tragic doesn’t even cover it. Nothing does. There are no words. How could there be?
A talented amateur with many medals on the international stage. A two-time medallist at the World Youth Championships showed her quality and potential. Georgia turned professional in 2021 and was unbeaten in three fights before the cancer diagnosis that left her with a much more important fight on her hands. Those three fights should have been more. Boxing failed her. But other aspects of society failed her more. A story that could and should have had a different ending.
“Fuck the doctors who failed me. Fuck the system that let this happen. Not one doctor fucking listened to me. Not one doctor took me seriously. Not one doctor did the scans or blood tests I begged for whilst crying on the floor in agony. Instead, they dismissed me. They gaslit me, told me it was nothing, and made me feel like I was overreacting. They refused to scan me. They refused to investigate. They REFUSED to listen. One even told me that it’s “all in my head.” And now, the cancer has spread.”
A broken system creaking at the seams because of years of neglect. But that doesn’t matter anymore. Life does. Her life. Georgia was begging to be seen. Crying out for help that never came. When it did, it was too late.
The immense outpouring of grief that followed the awful news on Thursday morning that Georgia had sadly passed away says plenty. In truth, it says everything. Nobody has a bad word to say about her. How could they? A rare diamond in a sport that far too often places its importance on the dollar and very little else.
A sport that is so lacking in empathy and the human touch. Georgia Cardinali was priceless. But her sport was aligned in unison when that awful news of her incredibly premature death filtered through. Everyone loved Georgia. So many touching tributes. Her time was way too short. But we were incredibly lucky to have her.
“I just want to be happy. Getting out there inspiring others,” Georgia once told me. Despite battling many things in her young life, she was, and she did. All those who knew her will never ever forget her. How could they?
