THE family of a young east Belfast woman who died almost a year after she fell and was left paralysed have told how they will remember her as "our star".
Nicola Feenan, who was 34, died at the Ulster Hospital on Monday with her family around her.
The cause of the Ballyhackamore woman's death was a severe urinary infection.
Nicola's family last night remembered her as a "brave girl".
Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 12, Nicola, who attended Our Lady and St Patrick's College at the time, developed lupus at the age of 15 and later underwent a number of procedures.
In the years that followed, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and had problems with her heart, lungs and kidneys and spent periods in hospital.
Last February, she fell at home and doctors found she had broken two bones in her back.
Sent to the Royal Victoria Hospital for specialist surgery to have pins inserted, the operation did not take place after medics decided that due to the young woman's other conditions, the procedure was too risky.
Nicola was left paralysed from the waist down and was looked after in Ward 17 at the Ulster Hospital.
In December, in a bid to say thank you to staff, she and a friend undertook a fundraising campaign, raising £1,800.
Speaking to The Irish News, Mairead Feenan said her daughter was someone who was "full of life".
"She was just such a bubbly person. Had a heart of gold and just wanted to help people," she said.
"If she could do something for you, she would go out of her way to do it for you.
"She just loved life before things got too bad for her. When she was younger she was the life and soul of the party".
The mother-of-two said the family had lost "one so special".
"She was a rock," she said.
"She fought through so much and there were times that did get her down, but the majority of times, she just battled on through.
"Her attitude was there were people who were worse off than she was. She would have laughed and carried on with us and joked with us through it all."
Mrs Feenan said Nicola would be now remembered as the "bright, bubbly person that she was before things deteriorated".
"She was such a strong person," she said.
"She would put you to shame. She said `This is what happened and I will just get on in life'. She was a brave girl."
She added: "She was just our star and we have lost her."
