A "hero" who repeatedly defied the odds to live life to the full despite being having cystic fibrosis and a double lung transplant has been remembered as a man of "extraordinary courage" and a "gentleman" following his death aged 50.
Mark Allen, a press officer with Halton Borough Council, died on Wednesday in hospital with his girlfriend Ela and mother Maureen Allen at his side after taking ill during the preceding days. He had just turned 50 in October.
What might seem at first to many a tender age for 2022, barely out of his 40s, belies a life packed with adventure, achievement and friendships that flourished around the world, all against the backdrop of repeatedly thwarting the medical hardships he endured his entire life.
