A TATTOO artist from Grays who is closing down her business to look after her sick daughter is putting out a last call to her regular customers.

Kerry Jones, 44, is giving up the business to care for her daughter, Paige Wilson, 15, after doctors diagnosed a deteriorating condition a few months ago.

Paige has suffered from pulmonary hypertension since she was a little girl.

It is a rare blood vessel disorder which causes sufferers to be in a wheelchair some of the time and on oxygen every night.

One of the heartbreaking aspects of the illness, which causes damage to the heart and lungs, is that while a sufferer looks fine on the outside, the inside tells a very different story.

Mum Kerry, of Highfield Gardens, Grays said: “I’m closing the business down now to look after her after having been there for ten years.”

She is hopeful as Paige has already pulled through for far longer than doctors said she would.

She said: “They only gave her five years to live six years ago and we are amazed we have made it this far.

“She’s a strong girl and we are planning her prom already this year.”

The family still have hope that a heart and double lung transplant could save Paige, and are waiting for her to be put on a waiting list for adult patients when she turns 16.

Meanwhile, Kerry is sending out the final call to her regular customers before her studio, Lady Tattoo, in St Chad’s Road, closes in August as many tattoo artists won’t touch another artist’s unfinished work.

She said: “Having been there for ten years, I don’t want customers with unfinished tattoos to miss out.”