A TEENAGER has lost his fight for life just two weeks before his 15th birthday.

Devoted parents Maria and Peter Anderson lost their much loved son Daniel Green to respiratory failure. Despite their grief they are determined to celebrate their son's short but happy life by marking his birthday with a party and fireworks.

Maria said: "On Monday Daniel would have been 15. We are still going to celebrate his birthday. We will have a party and we will be having some fireworks."

During his life, Daniel confounded doctors' expectations and won the hearts of all who knew him.

When he was born, Maria was told that Daniel would not live beyond the age of four.

But Daniel was a real fighter, and beat the odds. He loved music and especially enjoyed playing his keyboard. An avid supporter of Everton football club, Daniel even went on an adventure holiday, earning the nickname of "Zip Wire King."

His sudden death on November 8, following a bout of pneumonia, came as an enormous shock to Maria and Peter and his sisters Rachael, aged 13, and Melissa, aged nine.

Maria, of Meadland Grove, Bolton, said: "He understood everything that was going on. He couldn't speak but he certainly could communicate with us.

"He had a wicked sense of humour and was very popular."

And the packed church at Daniel's Requiem Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, Farnworth, was a testament to that popularity.

Stepfather Peter Anderson said: "Anyone who met Daniel never forgot him, and he never forgot them. He was always happy -- even when he was ill."

Since the age of four, Daniel had attended Tanfield School in Hindley where he was especially interested in music and cookery classes.

When he went on an adventure holiday a few years ago adventurous Daniel was the only one to enjoy potholing and was so excited about playing on a specially adapted zip wire he became known as the Zip Wire King.

Both Maria and Peter, a foreman for a construction company, described Daniel's death as very peaceful. The day before he died his bed was surrounded with lights so it looked as if he was in a little grotto.