When Elvis fan Garry Valentine was diagnosed with a deadly lung condition he was given a maximum of five years to live.
But Garry, who died last Thursday aged just 53, managed to live for seven years with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.
And doctors believe his passion for singing Elvis may have earned him those two extra years.
Before he was diagnosed with the illness the dad-of-two was an Elvis tribute singer performing around the club circuit.
His son Kai, 21, said: “Singing might have sustained his life for longer because he was exercising his lungs.”
And even after he became ill the former swimming pool lifeguard couldn’t resist doing karaoke.
Garry, from Deighton, continued to perform on karaoke nights around Huddersfield pubs.
He recorded a CD of covers for the charity Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis which he humorously named ‘All I Need Is The Air That I Breathe’ after a lyric from a hit by The Hollies.
He entered an Elvis tribute contest in Blackpool in November, taking his oxygen tank with him.
And he even sang the Neil Diamond classic ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’ less than two weeks ago at a pub with his daughter Alicia.
Kai said: “He really was the life and soul of the party and I believe he didn’t want to become a shell of himself.
“He was exactly the same Garry for everyone right until the end.
“I was having a laugh with him about the Huddersfield Town match on Wednesday.”
Kai also believes that Town’s promotion to the Premier League was the ultimate gift in the last full year of his dad’s life.
He said: “He was a lifetime Town fan and he had been taking me since I was a kid. It was our way of bonding.
“Last year he went to Wembley. He always said to me that he never thought he would see Town in the Premier League.
“It’s been an amazing year for him. It feels like that was how it should have ended for him.”
Garry leaves behind his wife Eve, children Kai and Alicia, brother Andrew, his parents Maureen and Barry and his step-children Pauline, Gemma, KJ, Michelle and Sammi.
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, which causes scarring of the lungs leading to breathing difficulties, mostly occurs in people aged 70 to 75. It is rare in people under 50.
For more information on the disease visit: www.actionpulmonaryfibrosis.org .
