Funeral for Keziah Shorten packs out Tonbridge church

FIVE hundred people gathered at a Tonbridge church this week to say goodbye to a 20-year-old woman who lost her fight against a rare medical condition.

The family and friends of Silver Close resident Keziah Shorten filled St Stephen's Church on Monday to celebrate her life with a thanksgiving service before a private funeral later that day.

A hairdressing student at the former West Kent College, Keziah – known to all as Kez – died on January 10 after the second of two pioneering windpipe transplants failed to save her life.

An emotional service featured a moving eulogy from one of Keziah's doctors from University College Hospital in London.

Consultant surgeon Paul O'Flynn said there had been a wave of grief among hospital staff for Keziah, who had become "a bit of a celebrity" during her 18 months of treatment there.

Mr O'Flynn said: "I have never seen so much emotion following a loss, even in the dreadful days when most of us were involved with the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings."

He went on to pay tribute to Keziah's mother, Tracey Hayter, for being a "constant font of strength" for her daughter and the whole medical team.

After a tearful poetry reading from six of Keziah's best friends, Mrs Hayter also spoke.

Putting her own strength down to her religious faith, she described her daughter's courage following her diagnosis with cancer in 2010 and the dignity with which she had died.

"It has been a privilege and an honour to have been her mother for almost 21 years," she said.

"I will never stop loving her. She would be amazed to see how many have come here today to say goodbye to her.

"Thank you for being here and for honouring this very special and beautiful person."

Tears were shed by many at the poignant lyrics of the songs Keziah had chosen for the service.

Gabrielle's Sunshine, dedicated to her boyfriend Joe Parsons, took on a particularly moving tone with its repetition of the phrase "Sunshine through my window, that's what you are, my shining star".

A Beyoncé song also had a devastating effect, the message "I lived, I loved, I was here" ensuring there was not a dry eye in the house.

After House Of Pain's upbeat Jump Around raised an unexpected smile as the coffin was carried out, the congregation released balloons into the sky.

Keziah's ashes will be scattered in Greenwich Park, Florence and Menorca.