A mother suffering from terminal breast cancer was able to fulfil her last wish – to spend a final Christmas with family and friends.

Kathryn Emson, 41, known as Kate, lost her battle after nearly two years of treatment, which included five operations, chemotherapy and brain surgery.

She died on Friday, December 30, at the Pilgrims Hospice in Ashford, leaving behind her husband of 15 years James and sons, Tom, 14, and Charlie, nine.

Mrs Emson was an avid horse rider and had her own cleaning company with business partner and friend Ailsa Fairchild.

The former Folkestone School for Girls pupil kept a photo diary of her battle with cancer and her husband said she never stopped smiling throughout it all.

Mr Emson, managing director of Clive Emson auctioneers, said: “The past 18 months have been difficult. The week she found the lump was her 40th birthday.

'She wanted everything to be normal as much as possible...' - Husband, James Emson

“She wanted everything to be normal as much as possible, we had parties and whenever we could we got away. The answer was always ‘yes’ and she didn’t stop smiling.”

Mrs Emson was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2015 and was in remission from March last year. But in October she was laid up for a week with a bad headache, which a full body scan later revealed was from the cancer, which had returned and spread.

Mr Emson, who lives at Etchinghill, said: “From October we knew it was a fight that wasn’t going to be won but she didn’t want people to know that.

“She was out seeing friends all over the place, but if she overdid it, the next day she would be in quite a lot of pain.

“She kept her sense of humour and she didn’t want to know how long she had left. She knew it wasn’t long, but all she wanted was positivity.”

Three weeks ago the Emsons had their final holiday, skiing in the French Alps for two days.

Even then, Mrs Emson’s determination continued as she packed her ski boots in the car with the vision of getting on the slopes. She took joy from watching everyone and was able to make friends laugh in the evenings.

Mr Emson added: “We were all worrying, some days she was down but not enough to put her off anything. She would still get up and do things – she fitted in as much as she possibly could.

“We didn’t expect it to be this quick. We thought we had another month or two, but the chemo wasn’t working as well as we had hoped.”

He praised the work of cancer charity Macmillan and hospices’ nurses, along with their oncologist Russell Burcombe, who supported the family throughout.

Mrs Emson lived in Surrenden Road, Cheriton, for much of her life and was a barmaid at La Parisienne nightclub in Folkestone for some years.

James and Kathryn met when working at the Black Horse pub in Monks Horton in 1997. They married in 2001. They lived in Sellindge for a while before moving to Etchinghill.

The funeral will take place on Thursday, January 19, at Hawkinge Crematorium in Aerodrome Road at 3pm.

Mr Emson has requested family flowers only but that donations are made to Breast Cancer Kent via a Virgin Money Giving page.

To donate, click here.