"Funny, compassionate and just so cute." That is how Vicky Bettany will be remembered by her brother, who has paid tribute to his younger sister after she died from cystic fibrosis, aged 31.

Vicky, who lived with her partner Nick Roberts in Barton-le-Willows, near Malton, was given only three years to live when she was born at York Hospital, in 1976.

But more than three decades on, her brother Andrew has paid tribute to his "feisty, but loving" sister, a "born battler".

He said: "The fact she had cystic fibrosis was a hindrance rather than a show-stopper. She didn't want to sit around moping all day. She wanted to enjoy life and she felt like that right up until the end.

"Vicky had a lot of friends. Everybody who ever came into her life never forgot her. She had this illness, but she persevered and she touched the hearts of everyone she met.

"I've lost the best sister in the world. She was funny, compassionate, loving and just so goddam cute. She lived for life and I'm going to miss her so much."

Vicky, who went to Archbishop Holgate's School, in York, before taking A-Levels at York Sixth Form College, worked as a barmaid in her early twenties before her illness made work impossible.

Andrew said: "Just living and breathing was so much harder for Vicky. She used to cough about 100 times an hour and she was always in a lot of pain.

"But she always wanted to make every day fun and she could make an adventure out of anything.

"She had a lovely smile, a wicked sense of humour and she was the most loving and intelligent person I know. She loved putting the world to rights."

A keen bird-watcher, whose favourite place was the Lake District, Vicky, who died on Saturday, was also a dedicated supporter of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and, when she was 24, she raised £6,000 for the charity after abseiling off Newcastle's Tyne Bridge.

Her funeral will be held at Bossall Church, tomorrow, at 11.30am, and her family has requested donations to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in lieu of flowers.