A MOTHER has described how her 18-year-old daughter, who died after a battle against cystic fibrosis, was a "princess" with a lust for life.

Despite enduring gruelling daily treatment and endless hospital trips, Becky Tarry had incredible strength and refused to indulge in self-pity.

Her mother, Lesley Carter, said she was a "party animal" who wouldn't let the disorder prevent her from living her life.

Miss Carter, of St John's, Worcester, said: "She was a real battler and didn't want to be tragic. Most of her contemporaries at school and college didn't know she had it.

"It might have been only 18 years, but it was 18 years the way she wanted."

Miss Carter said her daughter was beautiful and loved hair, make-up and fashion.

"She was a little pink princess, but underneath there was a rock-hard, solid core - she wouldn't let people trample on her and hated injustice.

"She would fight anybody's corner and was a really caring and compassionate girl."

Miss Carter said Becky had a huge group of friends, evident at her funeral when St John's Church was packed with mourners dressed with a touch of pink - at the family's request.

She said Becky had boundless energy and always had a smile on her face - which is why Gnarls Barkley's Smiley Faces was played at her funeral.

She said: "She was funny and had a wicked sense of humour. You could feel her presence in the house, even if she was in bed - it's just so quiet without her."

Becky lived with her mum and the 41-year-old's partner Paul Hodgetts, aged 46, brothers Tap, 16, Max, five, and seven-year-old sister Chloe in Solitaire Avenue.

The weekend before she died at Birmingham's Hartlands Hospital, after developing a cystic fibrosis-related lung infection, her boyfriend, 17-year-old Joe Collins, asked her to marry him. She died two days later, on Monday, January 22.

"I don't know how we would have got through the last weeks of Becky's life without him," added her mum. "He was a rock.

"They were just made for each other."

Becky was a student a Nunnery Wood High School and studied health and social care at Worcester Sixth Form College.

She was also a volunteer for Say it Yourself - a charity that is dedicated to helping children with development, health problems or disabilities.