TROWBRIDGE man Peter Trapp has died from a genetic disorder that affects only 20 people in the world.

The 46-year-old draughtsman died on Tuesday night (November 20) in his wife Terina's arms at their home in Chirton Place. The couple lived with the knowledge the rare liver and kidney condition could kill him at any time.

Mr Trapp made the decision not to have children in order to avoid passing hyperoxaluria on to them. Mrs Trapp said: "Pete was such a brave man and such a comfort to me and my two children.

"He would have his dark days when he would apologise and say he was a burden but he was never that and I loved him. He always smiled and loved my two kids as if they were his own."

The Trowbridge family has been blighted with tragedy, as Mr Trapp's brother Chris and sister Gillian also developed the disorder.

Gillian died aged just 28, and Chris, who also lives in Trowbridge, is now fighting it. Mr Trapp was diagnosed to be suffering from the disorder when he was two, and spent his childhood in and out of hospital. He had his first kidney transplant 10 years ago in London before undergoing another last October in Bristol.

Mrs Trapp said: "He just went downhill after the second transplant and that's when I gave up my job and cared for him at home.

"I learnt how to put him on dialysis but he worried about being a burden to me. Because the blood wasn't going round properly in his legs he had to have his legs amputated earlier this year, and I think that's when he knew it was the beginning of the end.

"He would say all he ever wanted was to find someone and be happy and he would question why he had to die now he had found what he was looking for."

Mr Trapp was educated at the former Nelson Haden school in Trowbridge.

He became an apprentice draughtsman at GEC in Melksham, then a self-employed technical artist working for Wessex Water. The couple married three years ago.

The rare genetic disorder means the liver forms too much acid, which creates kidney stones.