SHE was the “shining star” of her family who “touched the lives of everyone she knew”.

And on Friday hundreds of mourners packed into Bolton Parish Church to say their final farewell to brave Cygaya Seaton, the 17-year-old whose bright life was cut short by a lung condition that left doctors baffled.

Old and young alike huddled together outside the parish church in Churchgate, talking in hushed tones as they waited for the funeral cortege to arrive.

Several teenagers clutched yellow and white balloons. Others had floral tributes.

A white limousine full of flowers, some spelling out the word “sister”, others “daughter”, led the way.

It was followed by a white horse-drawn carriage containing a white coffin and three black limousines containing Cygaya’s grieving family.

Inside the packed church, the vicar of Bolton, the Rev Matt Thompson, opened the service before hymns were sung and eulogies read about Cygaya. In a poem full of emotion, her mother, Lola Seaton, of Embla Walk, Burnden, described Cygaya as “my everything, my life, my heart and my soul”.

She said her future seemed so bleak without her “unique” daughter, who “touched the lives of everyone she knew”.

Paul Morris, her former head of year at Mount St Joseph School, Farnworth, spoke of her many friends and told the congregation to cherish their many fond memories of her.

He said: “When you live in the hearts of those you love, remember, you never die.”

Her aunt, Melisha Trotman, said the family had lost Cygaya “in the blink of an eye” after she had bravely “fought like a warrior” for six weeks in hospital before falling asleep peacefully with her family by her bedside.

She added: “We are blessed that we have been touched by an angel that will always live on in our hearts.”

Fighting back tears, one of Cygaya’s best friends, Rochelle Dominque Green, remembered the fun they had listening to music and going on trips together.

She said: “I’m so happy I knew you Cygaya. You made me a stronger and better person. You had a bombastic laugh that I’ll never forget. I miss you so much.”

Her eulogy was greeted with a round of applause that echoed around the church.

Mr Thompson said Cygaya was an “unforgettable” young woman and urged loved ones to “remember the special memories and happy times you shared with her”.

After the service, Cygaya’s body was laid to rest at Heaton Cemetery.