A DEVOTED mother dying of cancer hopes a special treatment will allow her to spend more precious time with her two young daughters.

Louise Canning, 31, from Stockton Road, Newport, mother of Nicole, six, and Paige, three, was given between six weeks and 12 months left to live after being diagnosed with cancer in both lungs, her liver and probably in the bone, at the Royal Gwent Hospital just two days before Christmas.

Her condition is deteriorating, and now her family are battling to raise £20,000 so Louise can undergo specialist alternative treatment at a Winchester clinic, which could prolong her life by up to three years.

Louise was diagnosed with breast cancer last April and had her left breast removed in September.

She was given a tentative all clear by doctors but began to suffer backache a month later and tests showed a shadow on her lung. Doctors then confirmed the cancer had returned, and was incurable.

Louise's first cousin Michelle Hamblen, 31, from Tennyson Avenue, Newport, who is helping to organise the fund-raising, said: "Louise is a loving mum who is devoted to her two girls - they are her life.

"We are trying to raise the money to get Louise the treatment to prolong her life and give the girls as many memories of her as we can.

"Her illness is incurable and time is what we are fighting - to give her as much time as we can.

She added: "Everybody loves Louise and she is the kind of person who puts herself last and other people first. She has been like a rock throughout it all.

"Paige is a bit young but Nicole knows her mummy is ill but not that she is dying."

The family hopes parents whose children attend Nicole's school - Caerleon Lodge Hill - will not talk about her mother's condition in front of them, so she does not find out how ill her mother is.

Michelle said Louise's 32-year-old husband Richie, "is obviously devastated but he has to be strong for the children and Louise."

The couple were childhood sweethearts since the age of 16 - both are former pupils of Caerleon Comprehensive School - and would celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary in May.

Despite her condition, Louise travelled with her family on a Christmas trip to EuroDisney in Paris but spent the holiday in a wheelchair.

She needs £10,000 for the course of treatment at the Dove Clinic for Integrated Medicine. Treatment includes:

* A strict organic and vegetarian diet * no sugar diet or fish * intravenous vitamin C at very high doses combined with a range of intravenous vitamins and minerals and amino acids.

The three-week programme is claimed to kill tumour cells without the side effects of chemotherapy. A further estimated £10,000 will be needed to help Louise if the treatment at the Dove Clinic proves to be successful.

She will also continue having chemotherapy at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport. So far the family have raised around £400 and plan a series of fund-raising events, including a talent competition at Caerleon Lodge Hill school and a charity night at the Celtic Manor Resort.

An event is also planned in Llanwern Village, and the family wants to hear from any performers or entertainers who are willing to donate their time.

To help or make a donation, contact Mrs Hamblen on 01633 411206.