YORK brain tumour victim Emily Nicholson has lost her brave battle for life.

Emily’s mother Joanne paid tribute yesterday to her "inspirational" daughter, who died at St Leonard’s Hospice on Wednesday evening, aged 24.

“She touched so many people’s lives and fought so hard, right to the end,” she said.

“She never moaned once and she had the staff in stitches. They were crying after she died - they had never met anyone like her.

“She just had this positive attitude - that everything was OK and it didn’t matter what was happening to her.

“She thought instead about the people around her - she was more worried that we were hurting. She would say: ‘What are you crying for mum?’

“But Emily didn’t deserve to die - nobody deserves to die at 24.”

Joanne said that she, her husband Martin and son Matthew had been there when Emily passed away, and two hours beforehand Emily had told them she loved them.

“She fell asleep,” she said. “She had just had enough.”

Joanne paid tribute to staff at the hospice, where Emily stayed for the final seven weeks of her life.

“They were absolutely amazing,” she said.

“They did everything for her and for us, including counselling. They treated her as a 24-year-old rather than an older person.”

Tributes have poured in from friends and family for Emily who became the focus of two major fundraising campaigns as she fought her cancer.

In 2016, having emigrated to Australia four years earlier from their home in the Monkton Road area of York, more than £8,000 was raised to pay for Emily to return to York to see her old friends for one final time.

Fundraising activities then included a family fun day held at New Earswick Sports Club, a sponsored roller-skate and a raffle with a difference, with the prize being to get a phrase tattooed on a man’s leg.

She thrived so well during the three-week visit that her family subsequently decided to sell their home in Perth and return to York permanently.

Earlier this year, Emily launched a £30,000 appeal to fund pioneering immunotherapy treatment in Germany, but then wasn’t well enough to travel.

Joanne said the money, which could come to £14,000, would now be divided between the hospice and a brain cancer charity.

Emily’s uncle Tony Rhodes posted on Facebook: “Emily Nicholson, you will be missed by us always.... I am so glad we saw you last year, being all together was just amazing and I know we all cherish that day.”

Another person posted: “Heaven gained a true angel last night Emily Nicholson.

"Although Em’s pain is over, it is so unfair that this cruel disease has been allowed to take such a special young lady in the prime of her life.”

Joanne said funeral details had yet to be finalised, but it would be a celebration of Emily’s life.