Inside funeral teenager planned for himself - including coffin full of chocolate

16 January 2024 , 10:58

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Rhys Williams died three days before Christmas (Image: Tanya Moores / SWNS)

A tragic teenager will be cremated alongside his beloved Liverpool FC kit, X-Box games and favourite chocolates at the funeral he had planned for five years.

Rhys Williams died aged 18 last month, having exceeded doctors' prognosis by eight years, following his journey with rare condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB) and bout of sepsis and pneumonia. He had planned his funeral since he was 13 when he told mum Tanya Moores he was "ready for the butterflies to take him away".

Now Tanya, 40, has ensured every of Rhys' wishes will be met at his funeral on Wednesday, including a Liverpool FC hearse, and a procession of vehicles, such as 300 motorbikes, a Ferrari and an Optimus Prime truck, from Rhys' favourite film franchise Transformers. The vehicles will make the short journey from the family home to Bolton Parish Church in the centre of the Greater Manchester town for the service.

Everyone is encouraged to wear Liverpool FC shirts or at least the colour red. At least 500 people are expected to pack out Bolton Parish Church on Wednesday, and Tanya intends to stream the service for those who can't attend. Rhys has chosen the music for the service - including Liverpool FC's anthem You'll Never Walk Alone and Queen's Don't Stop Me Now.

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Rhys, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, had planned his own funeral (SWNS)

Inside funeral teenager planned for himself - including coffin full of chocolate

The brave youngster was born with epidermolysis bullosa (EB), which caused agonising sores over his body (Tanya Moores / SWNS)

Speaking today to the Mirror, the mum-of-three said: "He doesn't want people to be sad. When he passed away, he had the biggest smile on his face and that was heart-breaking. It was more heart-breaking because he was at peace and he was happy he was at peace. So it's made me that little bit happier that he's happy. I think he wants people to be happy because he had eight years more than he was predicted.

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"He's got Transformers figures on the one side of the coffin. He's got X-box and all the games he used to play on the other side. On the top, he's got the Liverpool crest, and then on either end, believe it or not, he's got a Warburtons Farmhouse loaf - because it is the only bread that he eats - and a tub of Clover and a pint bottle of blue milk. On the opposite end, he's got Wotsits, chocolate buttons and Wispas because they are all his favourite things.

"He was loved by a lot people. When he was out in Bolton, wherever he'd go a lot of people may have given him funny look but they'd be the odd person that he didn't even know that would say 'Hi Rhys, are you ok?'. It would make him feel so much better."

Football-mad Rhys met Liverpool FC legend Steven Gerrard (Tanya Moores)

Rhys was born with EB and struggled with it growing up. As a child, Rhys would often refuse to leave the house in fear of people staring at him. The life-limiting condition, which makes those with it more susceptible to infection, restricts movement significantly and Rhys used a wheelchair.

Ever since he was 13, the big Liverpool FC had planned his funeral, including which church, crematorium and venue for his wake, at which he wants people to eat "pasty and peas". Tanya, who has been her son's full-time carer, added: "He made plans and what he wanted and how he wanted it and so I just wrote it all down and I just kept it. I kept it as a note on my phone. So obviously, when I've changed phones, it's transferred over so I've got it - what church he wanted, where he wanted to go after and what he wanted after. It's his way so that's it.

"He had two bucket lists, and was on his second. He'd done his first one, which was to go to Anfield [Liverpool FC's stadium] and the biggest one on that was to meet his aunty and uncle from Australia and they came over quite a few years ago. He stood at the airport with a sign, saying 'my wish has finally come true'. He did quite a lot. He wanted to make a CD which he did. He loved Bruno Mars so he sang Bruno Mars' Grenade and Just The Way You Are, and a JLS song - I can't remember what it's called but it's a proper, bouncy, catchy tune. He made that CD and I still carry that round, it stays in my car.

"When he went into the hospice, they had his name on his door with all the things that he likes - like Fortnite and X-Box - on a sign on his door and that's still in the windscreen in my car. That's not moving."

The boy's family was told it was unlikely he'd live past 10 - but Rhys defied doctors (Tanya Moores / SWNS)

Rhys welcomed his auntie and uncle from Australia with a homemade banner, a wish that was on his bucket list (Tanya Moores)

More than £16,000 was raised, largely by strangers, for the funeral after the family created a GoFundMe appeal in December. It's with this in mind Tanya, of Bolton, has opened the funeral to the public. This is despite Tanya's "heartbreak" when her brave son told her he intended to plan his funeral in 2019. The child said, even at the time, he'd "had enough".

"I was heartbroken. I remember I came home after my best friend and I had been out at the bingo and Rhys had been having a rough few days, like by the way people were looking at him, and he just said 'I want the butterflies to take my away. I have had enough now'. It was so difficult as a mum," Tanya, who has one grandchild from Rhys' older sister, continued.

Rhys, who met local firefighters as a kid, has chosen every detail of his funeral (Tanya Moores)

"So it is important to we do this. He was at peace at the end. They put him on end-of-life care in November, and everybody was there but he fought it, and he kept fighting it. We said that he was waiting for something but we didn't know what it was... When we brought him home after about five weeks in the hospice, he fell asleep and died sometime in the in the early hours on Friday December 22. So we knew he was just waiting to come home and that's where he wants to be. That's where he wanted to be and that's where he wanted to die."

Rhys has met several Liverpool FC players, including current star Mohamed Salah and club legends Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, over the years. He also was taken to Anfield as part of a TV programme, presented by Jeremy Kyle, in 2009 which celebrated and surprised children facing adversity across the country. Given his love of the team, while Rhys said he was happy for Liverpool colours to be present at his funeral, he was emphatically against any mourners turning out in Everton or Manchester United jerseys.