BOSNIAN refugee Sefik Kozic has died after a long battle with cancer.

Sefik lost his fight for life last Thursday morning in Leeds' Wheatfields Hospice. His wife Ergina was at his side.

His battle against a brain tumour was backed by Wharfedale Newspapers which raised funds for a revolutionary anti-cancer treatment in our Support Sefik Appeal. The appeal was launched last May and generous readers donated almost £8,000 to help 41-year-old Sefik and his family, of Hawthorn Road, receive the ground-breaking therapy in Germany.

And tribute has been paid this week to the strength of the man, who, after fleeing his home in the war-torn former Yugoslavia, was to find he had the advanced cancer which spread from his lungs to his brain.

A journalist in his home town of Mostar, Sefik brought his wife and children Maja and Denan to England in 1992, to escape the bloodshed in his country. Determined not to be a strain on the state, he qualified as a Press photographer - just one week before the cancer was discovered.

Family friend Jean Lamb said: "He was a strong man with a strong spirit to the end. He and his family stand as a very singular example to us all."

The Support Sefik Appeal raised funds towards a revolutionary immunology treatment involving injections of serum made from his own blood, provided by a Munich clinic.

Mrs Lamb said although the treatment had not cured Sefik, it had given him hope. "I know how much the Munich trips meant to him. We feel sure they increased Sefik's quality of life."

And she thanked Wharfedale Observer readers on behalf of Sefik's family for their support . "They would very much like to thank all the readers for everything they did. The family was always very proud of the fact that the paper decided to help them."

Mel Vasey, editor-in-chief of Wharfedale Newspapers, spoke of Sefik's 'dignity and great fortitude' in his illness. He also thanked readers for the support they gave. "We were only too pleased to launch the appeal and the response from our readers was immediate and generous."

Sefik's funeral is at 11.30 at St James' Church, Horsforth. The service will be followed by a cremation at Rawdon Crematorium.

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