THE family of a "happy-go-lucky" Southampton teenager have been left devastated after she collapsed and died of a rare blood clot.

Nineteen-year-old Leah Botting had enjoyed good health until tragedy struck.

She had complained of cramp in her leg in the week leading up to her death and collapsed suddenly at her doctor's surgery as she waited for an appointment.

The teenager was taken to hospital where staff battled in vain to save her life.

A post-mortem revealed a blood clot - or pulmonary embolism - had travelled from the back of her leg into her lung.

Now Leah Botting's parents Julie and Derek have paid tribute to their "bright and bubbly" daughter from their Merry Oak home.

Mum Julie has spoken of her devastation at the loss of her only child.

She said: "She was a bright and bubbly girl and so happy-go-lucky. It's so tragic.

"Leah lived for life and she was a very gentle girl.

"We're absolutely devastated. It seems even more awful because she was someone that was so full of life."

"She underestimated herself, but she was a very popular girl."

Leah, who lived with her parents at the family home in Blackthorn Road, Merry Oak, had been looking for work after returning from a six-month stay with her grandmother in Yorkshire.

The ex-Sholing Girls' School pupil had been a veterinary student at Sparsholt College near Winchester and had worked at Road Chef at Winchester Services as a supervisor and at Pizza Hut in Southampton.

She enjoyed computers, socialising, cinema and music and adored the family pets - two dogs and a bird.

Leah leaves her elder stepbrother Andrew and two nieces, Tierany Jayne, five, and two-year-old Abbie Louise.

Dr Ben Marshall, a chest physician at Southampton General Hospital, said blood clots were unusual in teenagers.

"It is unusual, but from time to time we do see young patients with none of the expected causes.

"It can be life-threatening or even fatal on rare occasions."

Hundreds turned out for a celebration of her life at Peartree Church this week in Woolston.