​Popular young mum Natasha Tomlinson was determined to be the best mother she could be until the day she died.

Aged just 30, she finally succumbed to cancer last week, having had little over two years with her beloved daughter Kady-May.

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When her coffin is brought into Gloucester Crematorium on Thursday (February 4), Natasha’s favourite picture of her and Kady-May will nestle amongst the floral tributes. That was one of her dying wishes.

Natasha was desperate to get better. In fact, she was prepared to give up all she owned to find the right treatment.

Mum Denise said her daughter pleaded with doctors for a cure. “She said ‘Give me whatever treatment I need, my family will pay for it, we’ll all sell our houses and live in a caravan if that’s what it takes’,” remembered Denise.

“We would have, as well.”

They gave her chemotherapy but it was too strong for her and she had an operation before Christmas to bypass her stomach.

“We would like to thank everyone at the oncology unit, they did a fantastic job. We cannot thank Dr (Charles) Candish (consultant oncologist) enough,” she said.

In her last few weeks, despite the cancer taking over, the local government officer from Tuffley was determined to enjoy a great family Christmas. It was her third, and last, with her beloved daughter.

“She had a lovely Christmas Day at her brother’s house,” said Denise. “That time with her was magical.

“The main aim of the hospital was to get her through Christmas. Dr Candish did that for her – she adored him.

“She was so brave, she said she would fight every breath. She wanted to take Kady to school. It was not meant to be.

“Everything was as normal for Kady as she could make it. We are all so proud of how she dealt with her own death.”

She passed away in Cheltenham General Hospital’s oncology unit on January 25, with her fiance Paul Miles and her mum at her bedside.

Scores of work colleagues and friends are expected to turn out for her funeral, where one of her favourite songs, Michael Jackson’s You Are Not Alone, will be played.

“You were never alone with her,” said Denise.

“She was very family orientated but she valued her friends and always said that you should never give up on them.”

“She loved to go out on a Saturday with the girls,” said her sister, Katrina, 24. “She had so many friends.”

They are not likely to forget the former Beaufort and Harewood schoolgirl, who enjoyed the company of her workmates at Stroud District Council’s Stroudwater depot.

Kady-May was born on August 25, 2007, but she was just four months old when Natasha’s skin turned yellow.

She was sent to a specialist liver unit in Birmingham, where a cyst measuring 10cm in diameter was found in her bile duct. It was removed but Paul said she continued to experience pain and for 12 months she was prescribed painkillers for back pain, and anti-depressants.

Sister Katrina said something was clearly wrong, as she was losing a lot of weight. “She kept going to the doctors,” said Paul, 36.

“But they just gave her painkillers, saying she had a bad back.”

By the time she was sent for a scan, she was told she had two months to live.

“By the time they found it, it was too late,” said Paul, who works at the Tyre and Battery Centre, in Hempsted.

Natasha will be also be missed by her brother Darren, 33, her stepdad Trevor Hillier, her stepson Kyle, 15, and her family and many friends.“She lives on in Kady,” said Denise. “That is our little ‘Tash. Her life was complete with Paul and Kady.”