Mourners say farewell to Bryony

9:30am Friday 17th October 2008

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HUNDREDS of mourners turned out to say a final farewell at the funeral of 11-year-old Bryony Aveyard.

It was standing room only in Heworth Methodist Church yesterday afternoon as about 200 mourners, friends and family members packed in to say their goodbyes, with many following on to the committal at the crematorium.

The Press reported on Saturday how Bryony, of Woodside Avenue, Burnholme, York, and a pupil at Archbishop Holgate’s CE School, died after a rare condition caused her to suffer a brain haemorrhage.

Bryony’s parents, Rob and Katherine, believe she would have wanted them to donate her organs which have gone on to benefit four other women who have had life-saving operations.

After Bryony’s death, the family were told that she had an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), which arises because of abnormal communications, which directly connect arteries to veins, without a capillary bed in between.

Bryony’s flower-clad coffin was brought into the church yesterday to Leona Lewis’s hit A Moment Like This.

The service commenced at 1.30pm and lasted about an hour, during which time the minister, the Reverend Neville Simpson, read out a message on behalf of Bryony’s parents and her brother, James.

On their behalf he thanked all the medical staff who took care of Bryony, both at Leeds General Infirmary and York Hospital.

The service was conducted by the Rev Dr Keith Albans, who was the minister at Heworth from 1984 to 1989, and married the couple at Heworth in 1989.

He said: “Bryony’s family have been incredible and I think that everything they have done since Bryony was taken ill has helped so many other people, including Bryony’s school friends as they have had an open door policy at the house.

“Their decision to donate Bryony’s organs makes you think that you can’t put things off and maybe if we were all a bit more ready to talk about these things as a society as well, then we could all learn from their example.”

Bryony loved to play basketball and she played for York Vikings under-14 girls and was due to play in a national league this year with the under-13 boys team. Many of her Vikings team-mates and school friends were among those at the funeral.

Donations at the funeral will go towards the children’s charity WellChild.