CONROY Amy

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (Athlete, 20 Jul 2016)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (Athlete, 20 Jul 2016)

Impairment Details
Her left leg was amputated when she was 12 years old due to osteosarcoma [bone cancer]. "I started getting this pain in my knee. The doctors said it was a sprain, or growing pains, or flat feet. The pain became worse over the course of about a year. It got too swollen to bend and I started collapsing around school. One time I couldn't get back up, I had to crawl to the nearest building in front of the boy I fancied, which wasn't ideal. I went to A&E the next day with my dad. It was when the doctor said that it was cancer that my world caved." (Athlete, 20 Jul 2016; thesun.co.uk, 28 Jul 2019; bbc.co.uk, 09 May 2020)

General
AMPUTATION
When she was diagnosed with bone cancer she was given a 50% chance of surviving. Her mother, Ann, had died of breast cancer five years earlier. "The first day of chemotherapy I was sick 75 times. I don't know why I counted, I soon stopped that. I was fed through tubes, I couldn't really leave my bed because I would get sick, and I had many a bedpan mishap. My hair fell out and that was the only time I have ever had nits - kick a girl while she's down. I had a few close shaves when I just was very ill. The cancer spread quite badly and became very serious. I saw an x-ray of my leg and the bone was so thin I don't know how it didn't break. They said originally I could either have a pole put in my leg or have it amputated. It's a horrible thought when you have cancer in your bone and you know it is spreading, so I just wanted rid of it. I felt like if I had that pole in my leg, that limits you. Whereas if you have it amputated, and you work hard, you can go on to do anything." (thesun.co.uk, 28 Jul 2019)

PLAYING AGAINST MEN
Throughout most of her career she has played against and alongside men in mixed leagues. She says it has benefited her as a player but forces her to adapt her game. "We have a women's league but that's only about three weekends a year at the moment. We've got something big happening, like a women's pro league is coming and we're hoping for international players. But up until now it's been mixed. So I think I was the only female on my team before, which is good to play against guys because they're taller naturally and don't treat you any differently and it's all very aggressive. But obviously the game is different when you're playing against men or women, because in the female game I'm pretty tall whereas against guys I can get swatted, so I have to change my playing style a little bit. So I'm so excited for a pro women's league." (anchor.fm, 16 Dec 2020)