IT looks like the perfect family portrait - a doting mum with her three beautiful girls - but behind the smiles lies heartache.

For 36-year-old Jacqui Holland has terminal cancer and is making the most of the precious time she has left with her cherished daughters.

Widowed Jacqui is determined to stay hopeful and keep fighting her illness, against the odds, for the sake of her girls, who she says are her strength and inspiration.

Jacqui, who lives in Grappenhall, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, but managed to beat the disease thanks to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and an operation to remove a tumour.

But it was during a family holiday in 2004 that she first noticed that she was having trouble eating because she couldn't swallow.

Tests at Christie's Hospital, in Manchester, revealed the cancer had returned and was in her oesophagus, chest and bones.

Doctors predicted that Jacqui wouldn't live to see Christmas last year, as she plummeted to a size six. Twice her family were called to her bedside fearing the worst.

New medication means Jacqui has regained some weight and recovered enough to be at home with her girls.

Her last scan showed the change in medication meant the tumours had remained reduced in size, but only palliative care could be offered because the cancer is terminal.

But it's Jacqui's three girls, Anna aged 15, who attends Bridgewater High School, Katie, aged 11, and Emma, aged 10, both of whom go to Broomfields Primary School, that are keeping her going.

Katie completed the Tesco junior run in Manchester to raise money for breast cancer research for her mum.

Jacqui said: "I have to put a mental block on it and just try to live in the moment. I haven't asked how long I've got because they were wrong about the last prediction and there's a part of me that wants to think I might just beat it.

"The girls have been deeply affected by seeing me so ill but they've been so strong. I want to see them get married, reach their milestones. I want to be there for them when they make their mistakes, all the things that we take for granted but I can't make this thing go away. They are all so young and they need their mum."