Amy Kenny was determined by nature.

This determination was evident when, just two days after her father suddenly passed away in 2012, she bravely carried out her duties as the then Lord Lieutenant Cadet for County Fermanagh, greeting Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip as they visited Enniskillen to open the South West Acute Hospital.

"Amy was determined that she would stand proud for her dad," said her heartbroken mother Janice Kenny, speaking highly of her beloved daughter who passed away peacefully at her home at Hillview Park, Enniskillen on November 7, 2021 at the age of 26, following a three-year battle with Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of cancer which she fought determinedly to the end.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, Amy's family paid tribute to the late mother-of-one, who devoted her life to her son Jacob.

"She lived her life around her family and her wee son, he was her world," said her eldest sister Lisa, continuing: "She was a single mum and she devoted every bit of her time, money and energy into her son Jacob. He was the most important thing to her."

As a child Amy attended Enniskillen Model Primary School, moving on to Devenish College. She later went on to study catering at South West College.

In 2014, Amy gave birth to Jacob and decided to take a break from education to devote time to raising her son.

"When Jacob went to school, she decided to go back part-time. She was doing a day week at Greenmount College as well as a day a week volunteering with Three Valleys Veterinary Practice in Fivemiletown," explained Lisa, noting that Amy was working towards becoming a veterinary nurse.

"That was her main goal, to try and be a veterinary nurse. Unfortunately then she took cancer."

Talking about her daughter's personality, Janice explained that Amy had a wicked sense of humour and was quite quirky.

From she was a teenager, Amy dedicated a lot of her spare time to the Army Cadets in Enniskillen.

"She was the second female ever in Fermanagh to become the Lord Lieutenant Cadet, you get that post for a year and she was the top shooter in Northern Ireland at one point," added Lisa.

However, Amy's main passion in life was camping and spending time in the great outdoors.

"She was a very outdoorsy type, she loved camping, anything to do with the outdoors and animals," said Janice, going on to note that even when she was very ill, she would make the effort to take Jacob away on camping trips and to the beach, a place that she loved.

"She knew this was probably her last summer, so Amy being so outgoing and outdoorsy, she took off in the car with Jacob and went camping to Portrush and Salthill in Galway at weekends.

"If it was a nice night, she'd take him up to Lough Navar to camp or Muckross or even up at Boho caves - to create memories."

Lisa added: "She was very ill when she did that but nobody knew just how ill because of how determined she was.

"She was determined the whole way through her diagnosis."

Amy was 23 when she was first diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in 2019, a rare type of cancer that affects bones or the tissue around bones.

Talking about Amy's cancer journey, Janice and Lisa hope to raise awareness of Ewing sarcoma which can be difficult to diagnose.

"In early 2018, around March/April time Amy started complaining of pains in her leg.

"She had x-rays but they showed no fractures or anything so they thought it was some sort of sprain or sports injury, which is unfortunately very common with Ewing sarcoma patients, to be told that for a while before diagnosis," noted Lisa.

As the year went on, the pain in Amy's right leg got worse, she began to experience numbness and some loss of power.

After experiencing terrible pain on Christmas Day 2018, Amy went to A&E the next day to get her leg looked at again. Following x-rays, then urgent CT scans, and later a PET scan in January 2019, on February 4 it was confirmed that Amy had Ewing sarcoma.

Following her diagnosis, she started chemotherapy within a couple of weeks.

"Over the course of her sarcoma she had 18 different chemotherapy sessions, each one would be three days long, she had 30 radiotherapy sessions and in August 2019 she had her right femur removed and replaced with a rod and pins.

"She managed to rehabilitate herself after the surgery. She was very independent, saying 'I'm going to fight this'," said Lisa.

In January 2020, Amy was told that things were stable and received check-ups every three months.

"She stayed stable until October 2020. That's when they discovered that her tumour had grown again and had started spreading.

"She went back in for more chemotherapy and more radiotherapy but unfortunately that's when things started progressing and eventually led to her death," said Lisa.

Amy's funeral was arranged by Austen Stinson of W T Morrison Funeral Directors and took place on Tuesday, November 9 at Ballinamallard Methodist Church.

Catering staff at the South West Acute Hospital formed a guard of honour for Amy and as her remains left her home, her neighbours of Hillview stood out along with parents from Jacob's school. Many others from the local community stood out to pay their final respects, lining the streets of Ballinamallard as her funeral cortège passed by.

"This meant everything - it was lovely just to see that support and how loved she was," said Lisa.

Darling mum of Jacob, dearly loved daughter of Janice and the late Ronnie, dear sister of Lisa, Philip and Megan, Amy is lovingly remembered by her family and all the family circle.