BRAVE Littleport mother Nicola Jugg, who was determined to spend a last Christmas with her three young children, has lost her five-year battle with cancer. Nicola, 41, fought all the way through her illness to keep life as normal as possible for 12-year-o

BRAVE Littleport mother Nicola Jugg, who was determined to spend a last Christmas with her three young children, has lost her five-year battle with cancer.

Nicola, 41, fought all the way through her illness to keep life as normal as possible for 12-year-old Rebecca, Connor, five and 17-month-old Sophie.

Despite being given just four months to live back in the summer she was fighting to make it to the festive season, but died last Thursday at Cambridge's Arthur Rank Hospice.

Her sister-in-law Shari Byrne said: "Nicola was an amazing woman. She was very brave and a fighter. She would say 'I feel fine and the doctors are not going to tell me when I am going to die.'

"When she was told to take care of things because it would be a matter of weeks rather than months she defied all the odds. She had a good last three months. You would see her smiling through.

"Up until two weeks before she died she was still picking up her son from school. Even when she couldn't go she was there for the children and they would come home and tell her what they had been doing."

Nicola lived with her husband, Jamie, and her three children at Parsons Lane.

She was born in the house in High Barns, Ely, where her parents still live, and went to school in the city.

But five years ago, just after Connor was born, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

A programme of treatment and an operation followed and she went into remission, giving birth to Sophie in July last year.

But the cancer returned last December and eventually spread to her brain. Despite radiation treatment she was given just four months to live in August.

"We thought that would take us up to Christmas," added Shari. "She fought it till the end. She had plenty of family around her and we have pictures taken from a summer barbecue and my 10th wedding anniversary in the summer.

"Nicola talked to Rebecca about what was happening. She was absolutely amazing."

Nicola's funeral will take place on Tuesday, December 12, at St George's Church, Littleport.

Family flowers are welcome and donations to the Arthur Rank Hospice.