AUSTIN (KXAN) – Family, friends and thousands of Ben Breedlove’s online followers around the world are watching the teenager’s funeral, which opened Thursday afternoon with a montage of his life.

Gateway Church started its broadcast of family photos at 2 p.m., but the actual service starts at 3 p.m. CST.

• Watch the service online.
   

The father of the Austin teenager who died on Christmas Day asked KXAN News to live stream the service at Gateway Church after receiving requests from people around the world who want to watch. Here is the link.

The 18-year-old battled a lifelong heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and posted a final YouTube video a week before his death explaining the condition and the peace he felt about dying.

“We certainly looked at it as a gift to us that we have that little glimpse of how he saw things and it’s very overwhelming to us,” said his mother, Deanne Breedlove. “It’s unbelievable to us all the love that’s being shared by other people who are talking about that.”

During the last two years of his life, Breedlove posted videos regularly on his YouTube channels  about his experiences and offered practical dating advice.

News of the Westlake High School senior’s death and inspirational message continue to spread online and have made headlines on various news outlet websites including MSN , CNN and People .

Entertainment sites including MTV have also picked up the story and an entire Wikipedia page  is now devoted to Breedlove.

He is survived by his parents, sister, Ally, and younger brother, Jake.