A GROUP of friends in Alicante have started a fundraiser to create a garden in memory of a classmate who died of cancer at just 15 years of age. 

Zain Ali passed away in February of this year, less than a year after he noticed a lump on his jaw. 

At first the lump was not of concern to professionals who believed it was being caused by his teeth but then, in the summer of 2025, it was identified as a cancerous tumour.

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Zain Ali’s classmates hope to raise enough funds to build a garden in his memory. Image: Melissa Burgess.

Ali has been described by those who knew him as ‘a bright beautiful soul’ who brought ‘warmth, laughter, and kindness into every space he entered’. 

His passing has had a devastating impact on his family but also his peers who spent years attending school with him. 

These teenagers are now aiming to raise €800 so that they can create a memorial garden at The Maria ibara School which they still attend, alongside Ali’s older and younger brothers. 

“We’re going to try and get some plants, benches and a plaque,” Melissa Burgess, the mother of Ali’s best friend, told the Olive Press.

“It all happened really quickly and it was really tragic for someone of that age to die of cancer.”

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Burgess’ son Ethan met Ali several years ago after being made his mentor when he started at the school in Denia. 

“I started going to his house and playing tennis with him,” the teenager explained. 

It is no surprise that the pair spent so much time on the courts together; Ali was ‘really active’ and particularly ‘loved riding his bike’.

Ethan, who often accompanied Ali on these bike rides, now wants to create a peaceful place on his school’s campus as a way of thanking Ali ‘for all the time’ they spent together. 

“I hope that somewhere he has found peace, he deserves it, I hope nobody loses a friend, especially a very close one,” Ethan told the Olive Press.

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Best friends Ethan Burgess and Zain Ali playing table tennis. Image: Melissa Burgess.

Burgess hopes to help her son and fellow students through their grief while raising awareness for all that cancer takes from people, no matter their age.

Now over halfway to their fundraising goal, Ali’s loved ones are still seeking donations so that they can provide his peers with a place to relax and remember a friend who passed too soon.

Donations to the memorial garden fundraiser can be made here.

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