As they put it, “She was one of a kind. There will never be another her.”
Jo’s passing comes just over a year after her son Sam’s car veered off the road in Manchester, England, while he was home visiting with his family. He was taken to the hospital to treat life-threatening injuries where he later died.
“Sam left us far too soon, and whilst words will never fully capture the light, joy and energy he brought into our lives, we hold on to the memories that made him so special,” Jo and Sam’s father Andrew Gardiner shared at the time. “As a son, brother and nephew, he was loyal, funny and fiercely protective.”
Sam’s parents—who, per The Independent, also share a son named Charlie—also spoke to his and Jo’s experience on the second season of Race Across the World, which saw the mother-son pair rave across Central and South America.