AN INSPIRATIONAL teenager who laughed his way through life has died after doctors met his wish by switching off the machine keeping him alive.

Luke Biggs succumbed to complications from bowel disease on January 31, aged 18 – in spite of warnings when he was a baby that he would survive just weeks.

The Arsenal fanatic lived in Alexander Close, Abingdon, with his parents Ian and Karen, and his beloved big brother Adam, 21.

Dad Ian Biggs, 48, said: “His life was a story of what could have been despair, but life for Luke was for living.”

Luke suffered from birth with Hirschprung disease, a rare condition that causes severe constipation.

It was his wish to die if he couldn’t get a transplant.

Mr Biggs said: “He wanted to eat. He wanted to go home from hospital and stroke his cat, have his breakfast and go to work.”

Over the past decade Luke endured two small bowel transplants but – as with his first – his body had begun painfully rejecting the second.

He had been awaiting a third transplant in Birmingham Children’s Hospital since June, but contracted an infection called sepsis which put an end to his chance of receiving a new organ.

Mr Biggs said: “They took us to the side room and we knew devastating news was coming.

“We told every close friend and family who all had time with him. I whispered in his ear ‘if you fight through this kid we can get you back on the transplant list’.

“You can never be ready to turn the machines off. That little boy was so strong, he gave us another 12 hours. His little body kept fighting and fighting.

“In that devastating moment it was so lovely to have that time to say ‘don’t be scared’. Unfortunately some people don’t get that opportunity.” The family has received more than 130 sympathy cards.

Adam Biggs has now wallpapered his brother’s room with family photos.

Sarah Brinkley, head teacher at John Mason in Abingdon which Luke went to, said the school would add a Luke Biggs award to its annual awards ceremony to “someone who has shown absolute resilience and endeavour”.

The Oxford Mail celebrated some of Luke’s best memories with him, including outstanding GCSE results, and his meeting with Princes William and Harry at a charity lunch.

Luke’s family welcomes anyone touched by his story to join them in celebrating his life, at St Swithun’s Church in Kennington, wearing red and white in tribute to his favourite football team. The service is at noon on Monday, followed by a wake at Abingdon United Football Club.