Last updated 10:57, Saturday, 11 October 2008

Born with half a heart, Theo Giles Davies had little chance of survival, but he amazed everyone with his overwhelming will to live. However after 14 months of courage, he just couldn’t fight any longer and sadly he died last Friday.

• Photos: images from the funeral and Theo with his parents

Theo's parent Ryan Davies and Rebecca Giles arrive at the church

Yet rather than be sad for the years they have lost, his parents Rebecca Giles and Ryan Davies will treasure every single moment they had together, knowing that tiny Theo fought so hard for each one.

Yesterday, as Rebecca and Ryan carried his tiny blue coffin into church, the three were together once again.

Instead of a funeral focusing on loss, the couple wanted the service – at St John’s Church in Keswick – to be a thank you for the life of little Theo.

Hundreds of mourners each wore pale blue ribbons pinned to their coats in celebration of such a special little boy, while dozens of his teddy bears sat at the front of the church.

On the front of the order of service was a beaming photo of Theo at his happiest, while the back cover bore his tiny hand and footprints.

During the service, friends and family paid tribute to his big blue eyes and cheeky smile – a regular sight despite everything he went through.

A poem, written for daddy’s little soldier and mummy’s little boy, was also read out, recalling some of Ryan and Rebecca’s happiest memories of their time together, including his first Christmas.

A tribute from Ryan spoke of how much love he felt the first time he saw his son, who he described as a mini-me, and how it changed his life forever. He went on to pay tribute to Rebecca, saying she was the best mum in the world.

Among the congregation were doctors and nurses from Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, where Theo fought back from the brink of death time and time again.

On one occasion the youngster was given just weeks to live if a new heart could not be found. Yet even without the transplant, he carried on for many months.

Nigel Goodfellow, a member of the hospital chaplaincy, paid his own emotional tribute to Theo during the service.

“I remember the tiny blue scrawny baby who at the Freeman arrived 14 months ago. You went on to develop, despite massive problems, into a big, bright smiling boy.

“You had an amazing gift of communication, even though you couldn’t speak, and a coy smile that could warm even the hardest heart,”he said.

The family thanked everyone for their kind thoughts, both during Theo’s life and since his death, after which the congregation joined together to sing All Things Bright and Beautiful. Rebecca and Ryan then carried his coffin out of church to Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven.

Each mourner was then handed a single blue or white balloon to release into the skies as his tiny coffin was lowered into the grave.

• The News & Star attended the funeral with permission from Theo’s family