Amber Sheehy: Family's heartbreak as daughter dies of cancer an hour before ninth birthday

Heartbroken parents have paid tribute to their daughter after she died just an hour short of her ninth birthday.

Amber Sheehy, from Norwich, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in April and died at 11pm on Saturday night.

Her mother and father said on social media she died peacefully in her sleep with them by her side.

Her dad Jon posted on Facebook, saying: "She had no pain or discomfort and this was all we could have hoped for.

"Amber passed away with dignity after fighting a battle she couldn't win."

Her mother, Amanda, said on Twitter that her heart had broken but pledged she would work to help other families going through a terminal cancer diagnosis for a child.

She added: "Good night my princess. Mummy will love you forever."

The family posted a picture of her ninth birthday cake saying they had gone ahead with the celebrations as they knew Amber would have wanted them to.

Mr Sheehy said: "We decided to celebrate Amber's birthday with grandparents just as we would have done.

"We opened her cards and chatted and remembered Amber as she was along with some nice food. We watched some videos sent from the Norwich FC players last night wishing her a happy birthday.

"We simply cannot even begin to explain just how loved we feel today, and the love shown for our little lady. The comments, flowers and cards are simply beautiful and our garden looks beautiful as we just went to look and read some of the notes and cards left."

Amber died on Saturday in the Nook children's hospice run by East Anglia's Children's Hospices at Framingham Earl near Norwich.

Her family hope to carry on their charity work in her name through their Facebook page Amber's Army.

They said: "We were truly blessed with our little girl and the extra time we got with her, now she has gone and went with dignity and pride."

Amber was a keen football fan and her death has prompted a stream of tributes from Norwich City players and fellow supporters.

Goalkeeper Tim Krul wrote "Rest in peace little superstar" on Twitter, adding pictures of himself with Amber.

Norwich City also tweeted out a tribute saying the whole club was deeply saddened and their thoughts were with her family.

Amber was named the club's fan of the year last year.

Amber had been diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of five in April 2019 after she started having headaches and being sick in the mornings.

She appeared to have successfully completed her treatment in 2021 and was able to ring a bell signifying her cancer had gone.

But it returned in April 2022 and Amber had spent the past four months in The Nook hospice being cared for.

Her football team, Horsford Under 9s plan to celebrate her life at next weekend's matches.

They praised Amber's "most courageous battle".

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