Amy Leigh Hansford

Amy Leigh Hansford, MSN, FNP-C (nee Hillman), 53, of Longwood, died on February 6, 2025, after a 19-year battle with breast cancer. 

Amy was born on October 4 in Toms River, New Jersey, to Mary Lou Hillman. She was the first of 13 grandchildren, a fact that she half-jokingly encouraged the rest of the cousins and siblings to remember.

She graduated from Bishop Moore High School in 1989 and would go on to pursue a career in nursing. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences in 2001, and a Master of Science in Nursing from Simmons College in 2014, resulting in her advancement from registered nurse to nurse practitioner in 2016. Over the course of her career, she worked in a variety of specialties, from cardiology to hospice to long-term care. 

In the summer of 1997, she gave birth to her son, Canyon. In 2008, she married Jason Hansford, and together they had two daughters–Ava, 14, and Emma, 12. She loved her children dearly, and devoted herself to their wellbeing. As a parent, she was encouraging, accepting, happy, and protective.

She loved a good vacation, beach days, lake days, celebrating the successes of family and friends, and spending time with them. A perennial optimist, in the face of adversity she was ready with her zany, present, ray-of-sunshine perspective. She was fierce and funny and sly as a fox (in the best of ways), and she wanted good things for everyone she knew and loved. 

Jason, Ava, and Emma, as well as her son, Canyon Shapiro; her mother, Mary Lou Hillman; her two sisters, Kate Hardie and Teresa Youngblood; and her seven nieces and nephews: Aila, Woody, Fox, Junia, Lumen, Jessamine, and Lawson will love and miss her for the rest of their lives. 

Flowers can be sent to Highland Funeral Home in Apopka. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in memory of Amy Leigh Hansford to support cancer research and patient care via dana-farber.org/gift