A FATHER of three who loved extreme sports before being stricken with a rare lung condition has died.

Paul Duffy, 41, of Wales Terrace, Waterfoot, lost his fight for life at Burnley General Hospital after battling Alpha 1 Antitrypsin, a protein deficiency which fails to prevent enzymes, involved in digestion, from attacking lung tissue.

Today his widow Gill, 34, paid tribute to her refuse collector husband, who she had been married to for eight years, and explained how he coped with the condition.

Gill said: "The condition does not show up until people are in their mid to late 30s and it is usually diagnosed as asthma.

"Only when it doesn't respond to the usual medication is it usually discovered that it is Alpha 1. It must have been around 2001 when he was first diagnosed."

When his condition worsened he required emergency treatment, which usually involved an ambulance trip to Fairfield Hospital in nearby Bury, where his specialist was based.

Because of the rare nature of the condition, the couple prepared a briefing sheet about Paul's symptoms to assist paramedics. He was especially susceptible to infections.

"It was just six or seven years ago that he was working as a refuse collector, travelling miles each day, he was fit and active," said Gill.

"But in the last 12 months he has hardly been able to do anything and in the last six months he really struggled."

His final attack resulted in him being taken to Burnley's hospital, where he died three days later.

Gill met the keen potholer and caver as she works in the refuse department offices at Rossendale Borough Council. They were married at Zion Baptist Church in Higher Cloughfold.

Paul had two children, Sam, 18, and Ebony, 13, from a previous marriage and a nine-month old son, Peter, with Gill. His funeral service was held at Haslingden Baptist Church.

Paul moved from Manchester to Rossendale in the 1980s.