A little boy who defied medics with his achievements poses proudly in his school uniform.

It was the wish of Miles Bradbourne and his family that he attended a mainstream school.

But tragically, Miles, who suffered from a rare genetic condition, has died shortly before his fifth birthday.

In his short life he showed immense courage to not only walk and talk but also to ride a bike, travel the world and attend Rawdon Littlemoor School.

The youngster, known as Smiley Miley because of his sunny personality, who would have been five on Thursday, December 27, was deemed by experts to never be able to achieve normal milestones.

But he continually proved them wrong and lived a full and energetic life, learning to ride a bike and travelling the world with his mother Naomi 36, of Millbank, Yeadon.

Miles had MPS 1 Hurler Syndrome, an incurable chromosome deficiency, which suffocates the soft tissue in the body. He died after a viral infection overwhelmed his body.

Naomi said she knew her son could die before the age of six, but his sudden death come as a shock.

"He had been doing absolutely fantastically," she said.

What started as a touch of bronchitis a few days before his death developed very quickly into a serious condition and Miles went into respiratory failure at home.

He was taken into the intensive care unit at Leeds General Infirmary and put on life support.

He was completely sedated and not in pain, but his condition continued to deteriorate and Naomi was left with the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life-support machine.

Doctors have told the family his death could have been caused by a virus attacking his lungs, but because of the nature of his genetic condition, which weakened his heart, that has been given as the cause of death.

"It has been such a shock," said Naomi. "To have to make that decision was devastating."

Naomi said she is taking comfort from the fact that the genetic condition never had the chance to debilitate Miles.

"He never regressed and was going to mainstream school and was doing fantastic," said Naomi. "He was so proud and so excited on his first day.

"He loved going to school and they gave him maximum support. He just achieved and achieved.

"He was such a strong, courageous little boy, he had amazing strength of character."

Miles's funeral takes place tomorrow and instead of it being a sombre affair Naomi, her partner David Hutt and all the family want it to be a celebration of Miles's life and invite anyone to attend.

A service will take place at Kingdom Hall, Horsforth at 12.30pm, followed by burial at Yeadon Cemetery at 2.15pm.

A wake will be held at LA Fitness (formally Dragon's Health and Fitness) in Haworth Lane, Yeadon, from 3pm which will be attended by Miles's friends at the school which he had attended since September.