An excerpt from my funeral reading.

"For Vicki

Thank you all for coming today, to celebrate Victoria's life. She was known by many names, Vicki, Victoria, Ria, Tinx, Tori. But we all knew her as a caring, honest and amazing young woman. She was born in Lambeth, London 12th October 1986 and I'm sorry to say I know very little about her childhood. She would never talk about it much, but she always told me she was grateful for the upbringing she had as it had turned her into the young woman that she became.

The Vicki I knew, the Vicki that flourished, was not the London Vicki. It was my Vicki, the Scarborough Vicki. We didn't go out getting drunk every weekend. We didn't have a lot of friends and we didn't have elaborate holidays. What we had, which was more precious than any material thing, was each other - we used to joke that "we don't need anybody else, we have each other!" And we did. We taught ourselves to appreciate what we had, to enjoy each others company and to live life while we could. As she would say, "You only live once" - too right girl.

I am going to miss her smile, her laughter and her carefree nature. The way she talked through movies as we cuddled, the way she would always recognise the actors and ask me like I had a clue! The way she would be so stubborn when we went out that she would push herself, the way she just wanted to be treated like a normal person. The way she would always look out for me and yet how vulnerable she was herself. How excited she would get at the little things in life, suggesting a meal out or a trip to the cinema was always guaranteed to put a smile on her face as much as suggesting a dvd and a cuddle on the sofa.

Most importantly, we have our memories of Vicki. There were so many things we wanted to do, so many things we didn't have time to do and yet so many things we did do. Fond memories of her first trip to Scarborough and the long walk around the sea front, the way she stubbornly walked up past the castle as she was - between gasps, trying to explain her heart conditiont to me. The look on her face when she saw Oblivion at Alton Towers and the grin as she stood in the queue in anticipation. The persevernce on her face as she jumped through tree's in Dalby Forest and the pride as she went down the zip line after completing the course. The happiness inside her when we turned up at christmas for her neice and nephew with a car full of presents. The curiosity as the nurse showed her, her heart scans from the research trial. The joy she got from helping others around her, no matter who they were.

Her life wasn't an easy one, I am proud to have called her my partner for as long as I did. I am proud of her as a person, who she is. In the short time I knew her, every year we visited hospitals - several times a year sometimes for checkups, sometimes for research and sometimes because she just wasn't well. But she never let it get her down, she always had a positive outlook and would always see the silver lining in things. She truly was an amazing woman that could brighten up anyone's day, no matter how bad a day she might have been having. She would always make an effort to make those around her happy, regardless of the turmoil going on inside her. To take a quote that someone said to me, no flame burns forever, but hers burnt the brightest."