THERE were not many dry eyes at a funeral in Cairns this week as a grief-stricken mother read out a eulogy written by her own son before he died of a brain tumour.
Annika McKelvey said although it was all she could do to read her son's words out loud at the service at Our Lady Help of Christian’s Church on Wednesday, she knew it would be what Dylan, 14, would have liked.
"I hope he appreciated it, I just wanted to give an insight of his life, what his hopes were and his dreams," she said.
"He would definitely have loved this (being in The Weekend Post). He would have thought 'cool, I’m in the paper again'."
The eulogy was taken from an assignment called My Identity that the Year 10 Woree State High School student did last year while going through radiation treatment after being diagnosed with his first tumour in February.
At the time Ms McKelvey said the keen junior cricket and rugby league player with the Kangaroos and Cairns Junior Cricket Club was determined to beat the rare brain cancer that had stopped him playing his beloved sports.
Tragically, more inoperable tumours were found earlier this year and Dylan died at his Earlville home last Sunday morning, several days after slipping into a coma.
Before he died his mother had taken him in her arms and said: "Mate, if you want to go, you can go. You don't have to fight any more".
Yesterday, Ms McKelvey and Dylan's step-father Peter Villalba were remembering a young man who they described as having "unbelievable courage from day dot".
In his assignment Dylan wrote: "I feel great about myself.
"I'm a healthy person. I was fit and full of energy before I became sick and I'm feeling much better now.
"In a few year's time I will be out of school. I will have a licence and I will be better than ever.
"I would like to play NRL for the Cowboys, (Gold Coast) Titans or South Sydney or play cricket for the Queensland Bulls and Australia and have a well set life."
Dylan also wrote about how he loved his family, his labrador-cross Mighty and his sports heroes, rugby great Matt Sing and World Cup cricketer Andrew Symonds.
"I always wanted to be just like him (Symonds) and today I still want to be," he wrote.
The piece ended with an apology to his teacher Ms Bogart for not completing the whole assignment: "Please find somewhere in your heart to give me a C+ or a C-", he wrote.
He was rewarded with a B+, his mum said yesterday.
Dylan was also granted his greatest wish at the end of last year when the Starlight Children's Foundation flew him and his family to Melbourne to attend the Boxing Day Test, meet Symonds and be the Australian team’s flag-bearer over the three days.
"He was in awe when he met him (Symonds)," Mr Villalba said.
