Partying hard to the end

Ted West was told by doctors to take it easy but that was not his style. Photo / Supplied

In another life, Ted West could have been a rock star.

Instead the 22-year-old cystic fibrosis sufferer was buried with a bottle of Jagermeister on Saturday, without completing his "bucket list".

Mr West, from Auckland, died before he could fulfil his wishes to trash a hotel room, bungy jump and drive a V8 car.

But thanks to his many friends he took a ride in a helicopter and saw countless metal and hard rock bands, including AC/DC, whose song Hells Bells played at his funeral.

Mr West's "honorary big sister" of 17 years, Sarah Sampson, said doctors told Mr West to take it easy in the weeks before he died but that was not his style.

He knew he had only a short time to live, after being diagnosed in infancy with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease that affects the whole body and causes mucus to build up in the lungs.

Ms Sampson said that regular hospital procedures to drain fluid from his lungs were taking their toll on Mr West and, had he lived, he would have undergone several operations that offered little hope of improving his quality of life.

So he decided to end his life on a high note. "He wanted to go out with a bang.

"He just loved music and partying and having a good time with his friends," she said.

Ms Sampson - whose younger brother Andrew was Mr West's best friend from the time the boys were 5 - organised a fundraising metal concert in April for Mr West, who was on stage for a night.

His tattoo artist friends auctioned artworks on Trade Me for money to help him complete his wish list.

When he died, his friends had a bungy jumping pass and a V8 car experience ready for him and a radio station was trying to arrange for him to trash a hotel room.

"But Ted just got too sick. It was too late," said Ms Sampson. She said he became gravely ill very quickly and died on May 11.

Ms Sampson said her friend would be remembered as a rocker who never let his life pass him by and never had a bad word to say about anyone.

"He is up in heaven. His body won't be failing him anymore. He will just be partying hard."