TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to a young Derry man who was laid to rest yesterday after losing his battle with a rare muscular condition.

Marc Bigger, 19, from Magherafelt, was a talented sports player who had represented Ireland in wheelchair football.

The student, who suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, died on Thursday.

He was a member of the Irish under-18 team for powerchair football at an international competition in Paris in 2014.

Last year, he began a degree in computing at the University of Ulster in Coleraine.

St Pius X College in Magherafelt, his alma mater, described him as a “highly gifted and talented pupil who achieved outstanding success in his time with us”.

“Marc will be sadly missed by all of us as he has touched our lives in so many ways,” the school said.

‘Great attitude to life’

The Trailblazers Powerchair Football Club in Belfast, which Marc helped to found, said he would be remembered for his “great attitude to life”.

The Mid Ulster Mail reports that his achievements will be marked by the FAI at an Irish game in March.

“Football changed Marc’s whole world,” his mother Marina told the paper in 2014.

He changed overnight, becoming less withdrawn and generally much, much happier.

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