A TEN-year-old girl will go into her sticker-decorated coffin wearing her favourite blue dress and holding her most cherished doll at her funeral next week.
Brave Joni May asked that people wear bright colours for the service before she died from a rare blood disease on Sunday night.
Mum Helen Winter, 40, of Worsbrough Road, Blacker Hill said they want the funeral to be a celebration of a her life instead of a time for sadness.
She said: “She was a wonderful little girl who has touched so many lives.
“She has given us a good few years of laughs and tears, mainly laughs.
“Joni knew in her heart of hearts she would die but she was always so strong. It is her who has given us our strength.”
Joni was diagnosed with severe aplastic anaemia nearly two years ago.
The disease, which usually affects men over 40, stops the bone marrow working and leaves sufferers with little defence against infection.
Joni was given a stem cell transplant in July 2006 but after some initial success the donor cells began attacking her own and her health deteriorated.
