A COURAGEOUS man who overcame chronic illness as a child has died at the age of 27 in a car crash.

Paul Ingram, who underwent a kidney transplant in 1991 after suffering kidney failure, died last Thursday morning when the van he was travelling in was in a collision with a tanker near Crossgates in Wales.

The accident, which happened at around 8.45am, also killed Kidderminster 19-year-old John Burden and left two other men in their early 20s - driver Bobby Jennings, from Kidderminster, and Sam Rushton, from Cookley - in a critical condition in Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

All four men worked for Paul's brother-in-law Lee Pace's Stourport-based company, L Pace Carpentry, erecting timber-framed houses. They were en route to a job, in a red Volkswagen van, when the accident happened. The driver of the tanker suffered minor injuries.

Yesterday, Paul's grief-stricken father, Roger, paid tribute to his son, saying his death had devastated his family, including his wife, Vicki, and mother, Georgina.

"He was a little hero and everyone who knew him thought that," he said.

"It was just so tragic that it all had to end like this after all he went through in his youth and really that's all I can say.

"I was very proud of him as a father."

The 61-year-old caretaker of Lickhill Lodge First School said his family had been overwhelmed by sympathy within the neighbourhood.

"We will never forget over the years - particularly when he was a little boy and how ill he was - how wonderful people have been to us."

The former Stourport High School pupil was featured in the Shuttle/Times and News when he was 13 after being given a top award by the British Kidney Patient Association for his patience and courage in waiting for a donor.

He had been on dialysis for around 18 months when he received his transplant.

He hit the headlines again at 15 after winning a gold medal in the obstacle race at the British Transplant Games.

Paul's sister, Janine, said her brother, who married Vicki two years ago and lived with her in Waterside Grange, Kidderminster, was a doting husband and uncle.

"Paul and Vicki just loved each other to bits," said the 33-year-old mother-of-two, of Heightington Place, Stourport.

She added her brother loved football and supported Liverpool FC as a child and West Bromwich Albion as an adult.

"He just enjoyed life and had led a normal life since he was 15 and had no relapses," she said.

"He was a very happy person."

"He'd do anything for anybody," "He wouldn't hurt a fly and just cared about everybody around him - he was just a fantastic person.

"Everybody is devastated and cannot believe what has happened. We just don't know when we are going to get over the tragedy."

She added: "He'd had to face so much and went through so much with his illness and was such a fighter.

"Everybody knew him in Stourport and we were just one big family and his death has destroyed so many people. It's just unbelievable."

In a statement issued by police, Vicki described her husband as a "lovely man with everything to live for".

"We were due to go holiday to India in two weeks, I don't know how I'm going to go on without him," she said.

Close family friend, Brian Glass, whose son, David, attended Stourport High School with Paul said: "He was a lovely, lovely lad - what can you say?

"He'd just started to get some nice quality of life after his transplant and then there was this tragic event.

"It's so, so tragic."

A police investigation into the accident is underway and anyone with information should contact Llandrindod Wells Police Station on 01597 822227.