MEMBERS of roller derby skating clubs from all over the South West gave a rousing send off to a woman who died after battling breast cancer for four years.
Around 30 brightly-dressed enthusiasts attended the funeral of Amy Buller, 39, a member of the Bath Roller Derby Club, in Corsham on Wednesday.
Miss Buller’s gold glitter coffin was carried along the Pickwick Road in Corsham and down the A4 to Box in a silver VW Camper van.
The cortege was accompanied as far as Beechfield Road by skating friends from roller derby clubs in Bath, Wiltshire and North Devon - one named the South West Angels of Terror.
Cat Hunter, the founder and former chairman of Bath Roller Derby Club, said: “Amy actually found out she had breast cancer after a roller derby game.
“Amy was hit in the chest during a game and afterwards she found a lump in her breast and went to get it checked out .
“She found out she had breast cancer and, as a result, she encouraged her sister Kate to get checked and she, too, was diagnosed with cancer.”
The skaters cheered, clapped and shouted ‘We love you Amy’ after joining the funeral procession for Miss Buller, a member of the Bath Roller Derby Club for around seven years, known in the team as Scarlett O’ Harma.
Mrs Hunter said: “Amy was a larger than life character and a valued member of the team. She pretty much skated all the way through her chemotherapy.”
Miss Buller was diagnosed in December 2015 and just three weeks later her elder sister Kate Evans was also diagnosed with breast cancer, just before Christmas. Together, they went through surgery and chemotherapy treatment.
Sadly Kate died, aged 46, on December 24 2017 after a two-year fight against the disease. Miss Buller died on September 19.
After the funeral procession through Corsham, Amy’s parents, Mike and Marion Buller, from Corsham, held a private funeral service at Box Cemetery, with only close family members present.
It is understood that this was to be followed by a woodland burial, and a tree will be planted in her memory.
She died just four days short of what would have been her 40th birthday, leaving her parents and her third sister Leisha Lush, who lives locally, and her nieces and nephew Jessica, Ben, Lucy and Emily, the children of her late sister Kate Evans.
Interviewed before Christmas 2016, Amy and Kate said they were just grateful to be alive after being told they had breast cancer just three weeks apart.
After going through surgery and chemotherapy treatment together, they started to raise awareness of the disease.
The sisters became strong advocates for getting checked for breast cancer and Amy raised more than £2,500 for the Dorothy House Hospice before she died.
She had worked for the Lick The Spoon chocolate-making company in Corsham for about four years before leaving for a job in Bath.
Company owner, Diana Short, said: “Amy was one of the most loyal and trustworthy people I have ever known.
“She was colourful, bright and lovely. She never let you down. She used to pack and dispatch for us and generally cause mayhem.
“She would always come to see us when we took a stall at the Bath Christmas market.”
After leaving Lick The Spoon, Miss Buller went to work at The Boater pub near Pulteney Bridge in Bath, close to the Bath Rugby Recreation Ground.
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