8-year-old Neal Dhilan Singh, resident of London, UK died suddenly at his home on January 5th after suffering from fever for two days, the Croydon Advertiser reports.
On Tuesday, 7th March, his heartbroken mother Bobby Singh paid a glowing tribute to her beloved son by arranging a poignant ‘superhero’-themed funeral attended by close family, relatives and Neal’s friends.
To give Dhilan the perfect send off, Mrs Singh came up with the idea of a unique Marvel Comics superhero-themed funeral.
"He's always been into Marvel, Spider-Man and Iron Man," Bobby was quoted as saying by the Croydon Advertiser.
Dhilan's coffin was inspired by one of his favourite characters, Iron Man, and the undertakers lead the procession dressed as Batman and Robin.
"We wanted to have a theme -- just like a birthday party there has always been a theme. So, in my mind, while we are celebrating his life I thought we should have it themed," Bobby said.
At the funeral, Dhilan's best friend, dressed as a Supergirl, paid tribute to him saying: "Dhilan was a true and loving friend to me and to everyone in our school. He was even helpful to those who never knew him.
"My main memory of Dhilan that really makes me smile was when Dhilan and I went to a Halloween funfair and there was a monster maze.
"I was so scared of the people who were dressed as clowns, but Dhilan taught me not to be afraid. He kept laughing at them, which made me laugh.
"Now he has left us, all we can do is remember him with good memories.”
Neal had gone for a bath after having had a fever for two days but was found passed out by his mother.
Despite the best efforts of paramedics, Neal could not be saved.
Police confirmed Dhilan's death was not suspicious and a post-mortem found the cause was "unexplained" with drowning was ruled out.
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