Family celebrates life of little ‘warrior’ Archie
YOUNG FOREST FAN ‘FOUGHT CANCER WITH A SMILE’
CLOSE friends and family celebrated the life of “brave” Nottingham Forest fan Archie Michael Warriner, who was described as “a beautiful soul, inside and out”.
The three-year-old, who fought cancer with a smile, passed away peacefully in the arms of his parents on April 14.
His family decorated his coffin with Forest stickers and Archie’s funeral took place yesterday, at Gedling Crematorium.
His dad Michael Warriner, 41, described his son as “a warrior” and said he was “such a brave boy”.
Speaking before the funeral, Mr Warriner, of Coronation Walk, Gedling, said the service was “a look back on his whole life”.
“The last 16 months when he had cancer we documented a lot of that,” he said.
“We didn’t want to make it just about that because Archie was two years old before he got cancer.
“We already had a lot of memories, of healthy memories and that kind of thing.
“It’s going to tell the story of everything that’s happened - and we’ve had a celebrant to do it.
“It’s just such an amazing story of what he did, it’s a story of courage and strength and, in probably the toughest time of everybody’s year, he was going through all of this.
“His positivity and his faith that he kept, he did it all with determination and with a smile. I for one will never forget how he did this and he gave us the strength to get through this.”
Archie’s hepatoblastoma liver cancer had spread to his lungs and he underwent seven types of chemotherapy.
Mr Warriner explained he and his partner Lucy Heavey decorated their son’s coffin with “a big vinyl Forest sticker” and a Thomas & Friends train with Archie’s name written in it.
The family asked guests to wear black and have with them an item of red, such as a tie or scarf, or anything Forest-related.
They also arranged for Archie to be cremated in his Reds kit.
The songs at the service were chosen for him - such as True Colours, featuring in the film Trolls, and the theme tune to the Thomas & Friends movie Blue Mountain Mystery.
The family arranged for the funeral to be live streamed.
Mr Warriner, a dryliner ceiling fixer by trade, said: “I don’t think there’s anything worse out there in life than losing a child, I really don’t.
“It’s a celebration of his life, I’ll celebrate for the rest of my life his life.
“No-one should have to go through any of this, no one should bury their child. It’s not the order of life, is it?
“It’s not supposed to happen like that. He was just a beautiful soul, inside and out. We just miss him and we love him to the moon and back. It’s still surreal all of this – this happened two weeks ago. Time just goes. It still feels like it happened a few hours ago. We want to give him a good send-off.” Miss Heavey, 35, said the funeral represented “the last goodbye until we see each other again”. She said: “It’s celebrating his life, remembering Archie - not only for the strength and the determination and the bravery that he showed in the last 16 months, but also remembering his life before. Before the diagnosis - it’s that side as well. “He was such a different child obviously before - we did start to get that back towards the end of it, when we were coming off treatment - but it’s remembering that his life wasn’t just 16 months of cancer. “His life was nearly three-and-ahalf years. A lot of people only know of Archie because of what’s happened over the 16 months.
“But he’s been a little boy for a lot longer than that.”
Archie was diagnosed at the end of January last year, just after his second birthday.
Although there were signs some of the treatments seemed to be working, his family said his bones became extremely brittle during the cycle - and they were told by an oncologist he needed a “miracle”.
A private pharmaceutical company agreed for Archie to try a seventh chemotherapy treatment after his parents contacted the company about the possibility.
His parents hoped it could be a “stepping stone” to an eventual liver transplant - but the drug “never took effect”.
Money can be donated to a fundraising page, set up to support the family, at www.gofundme.com/f/ teamarchie-fighting-hepatoblastoma-liver-cancer