THE family of a Northwich teenager who died following a battle with a rare disease said their final goodbyes yesterday.

Paul Preston, and his wife Rachel, lost their 18-year-old son Kieran to neurometabolic mitochondrial disease on March 17.

It came 18 months after the death of their daughter Stacey, 20, and eight-week-old Kristen in 1992, who both suffered from the disease, which is genetic.

Yesterday morning, Paul and Rachel placed their son in his coffin ready for his final send-off.

“It was very difficult to put Kieran in his coffin,” Paul said. “Me and Rachel were inconsolable.”

Kieran’s parents arranged the whole day to be themed around movies, something Kieran was passionate about.

Paul dressed up as Indiana Jones, which included a hat Kieran owned. Rachel wore a sparkling blue dress and a green and white cardigan, with sparkling green butterflies.

Green is symbolic for the awareness campaign of mitochondrial disease.

The day began with a horse and cart procession with a police escort, followed by a service at St Helen Witton Church.

Kieran was placed in specially designed coffin that featured four of his favourite movies, Back to the Future, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings.

Paul said: “We’d seen pictures of the coffin but we didn’t know what it would look like. We saw it and were absolutely speechless. It was a tremendous tribute to a precious son.

“We hope he would have loved it. The vision was that he was in movie land, surrounded by his favourite movies.”

Paul spoke during the funeral service and there was a slideshow with homemade video footage.

Two of Kieran’s former nurses from Leighton Hospital also spoke during the service.

A number of silver butterflies were let off outside the church, before the family headed to the crematorium for a final service.

During this service, a video of Kieran and Stacey taken during a family holiday to Universal Studios was shown.

Paul said: “It was a very poignant video. Kieran and Stacey were holding hands looking each other.

“I had seen the video beforehand but Rachel chose not to see it. She tuned round and burst into tears. It was very, very difficult. She nearly left the crematorium at that point.

“She said she can’t go on any more, it was hard to watch.”

After the service, 18 memorial balloons were let off. Paul and Rachel let off two doves before 18 more were released.

Annie Lennox, Into the West, from the Lord of the Rings, was played out as the family said their final goodbyes. Several songs from Kieran’s favourite movies was played during the course of the day.

Paul thanked officers from Northwich Police for helping out on the day, something the family were not aware of until the day.

“We were astonished by that,” Paul said. “It’s not something we were expecting.

“They said they had read the story in the Guardian and were aware of Stacey and the lads had put their hands up and said they wanted to offer their services, give us a proper VIP send-off.

“It was fabulous. They came and introduced themselves and said ‘traffic won’t be a problem today’.”

Simon Meegan, chief Inspector of Northwich Local Policing Unit, said: “Our thoughts are with Kieran’s family at this difficult time.

“We wanted to ensure that the horse-drawn cortege was able to pass safely through the town centre and we thank everyone for their cooperation and respect.”