A young woman who died after a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis has been laid to rest in a leopard-print themed funeral.

Amy Eades, 21, of New Addington, described as ‘happy-go-lucky’ and ‘a character’ by her family, designed the theme herself before her death on May 1.

She was carried in a leopard-print coffin to the service at Mitcham Road crematorium, where her relatives wore clothes in the same pattern and released leopard-striped balloons in tribute to the animal-lover.

Her aunt Karen McGuiness said: “Amy’s design for clothes was well wacky and she used to wear very colourful clothes that were all the [computer game] Zelda dresses.

“She just loved leopards – she had teddies, handbags, shoes and clothes all in leopard print.”

Miss Eades, a former Addington High School pupil, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at birth.

In the last few years of her life she developed cystic fibrosis related diabetes and liver disease, but lived life to the full and travelled widely, including a dream trip to Australia.

Her aunt said: “Amy knew, obviously, that she was poorly and she knew that she would never reach old age so she tried to do a lot of what she wanted to do and most of it she achieved.

“She went abroad a lot to several countries - the main country she wanted to get to was Australia, which she did.

“She also holidayed in Egypt, Portugal and Spain.

“Believe it or not she used to have a lot of holidays at Camber Sands in Sussex, even though she had been abroad she loved going there which is really bizarre but this was Amy.

“She was just a very happy-go-lucky young lady. She was just a character.”

Her May 20 funeral was attended by more than 100 people, including her mother Lyn, brother Sam, 20, and sister Jessica, 17.