AN "inspirational" netball coach from Kidderminster has died aged just 34 after fighting a long battle with skin cancer.

Tributes have poured in for Becky Giddins, who died peacefully at home on Monday, August 8, surrounded by her close family, friends and devoted husband Kevin.

She had been suffering with metastatic melanoma, which meant cancer cells had spread to other areas of her body - including her lymph nodes and lung.

Her husband of three years described her as "positive", even when faced with the crushing news that medication to treat a tumour below her kidney had stopped working.

Mr Giddins, 34, said: "She was happy, always smiling, she would do anything for anybody. Everybody liked her, she was always very easy to get on with.

"She was very, very caring, she was always up for a laugh, she was just a happy person.

"We were always very positive throughout. She would never give in to it, she just wanted to carry on as normal.

"She knew she wasn't getting any better but she wasn't sat there saying: "This is no good", she was positive throughout.

"She is at peace now, I can be peaceful that she is no longer in pain."

The talented sportswoman was a founding member of Worcester City Netball Club, now Worcester Netball Club, and played for both Evesham Reds and Worcester Reds.

A passionate PE teacher, she coached aspiring young players at both club and county level and continued her tireless work despite her illness.

 Sam Rudd, of Worcester Netball Club, said: "Becky was just unique, inspirational, amazing, funny - every good word you can think of will describe her.

"She was just unique as a player, she had a flair about her - the lay ups that she would do would make you 'ooh and ah' on court and off court.

"Her accuracy and shot was just phenomenal. So many people have watched her and idolised how she played the game.

"She made netball fun and made it exciting. Apart from her family and life with her husband, she just lived and breathed netball." 

Mrs Giddins, who lived with her husband in Kidderminster, was first diagnosed with skin cancer in 2007, which she had removed, but by 2012 the disease had spread to her lymph nodes and then her lungs in 2013.

In 2014 a scan showed a tumour had formed just below the kidney and she began a course of drugs to keep it at bay, but in March this year she was told the medication had stopped working.

During her illness, Mrs Giddins helped her husband and friends fundraise for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she received much of her treatment.

She taught PE at King Charles I School in Kidderminster for eight years, but was forced to give up work in May when the pain became too great.

Sarah Williams, 33, from Kidderminster, said: "She was my best friend. I would say she was inspirational. She was the best netballer I have ever played with. She could have played for England."

Claire Lojko, who knew Mrs Giddins for 14 years, said: "Becky is the most considerate, passionate and bubbly person I have ever met and my daughter, who she is Godmother to, absolutely adored her.

"I don't really know what else I can say because whatever I do say won't do her justice."

Writing on Facebook, she said: "I have never known anyone so brave, someone embrace an awful disease the way you did and kick it in the butt so many times until you literally could do nothing more.

"This pain will ease and the memories will always be there but right now we have to work out how to live life without you.

"Fly high beautiful angel and I will love you forever."

Mrs Giddins' funeral will be held at the Wyre Forest Crematorium, in Kidderminster, on Thursday, August 25 at 1pm.

Anyone who would like to make a donation towards her headstone can visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/beckygiddins.