CHRISTMAS won't be the same without her - she was so special.

That was the loving tribute paid by a heartbroken Hampshire man to his wife who has died after a long battle against cancer.

Mother-of-three Jane Allan passed away at home with husband Colin by her side just 12 days before Christmas. She was just 32.

Colin, 37, a software engineer, said the festive season would now be centred on the family and their three young children - Beth, 8, Chloe, 5, and Jack, 4.

Colin, of Locks Heath, said: "We will celebrate Christmas with the family and remember Jane.

"It won't be the same because everything was special with her. She was highly regarded by everyone that knew her and such a fighter."

Jane, a police controller with Hampshire Constabulary, was first struck by the rare cancer called phaeochromocytoma back in 1994 and had a tumour removed from her adrenal gland.

It was just a year after she and Collin had been married, but she recovered and the couple put it behind them and went on to have three children.

Unfortunately the cancer returned and in recent years Jane underwent further radiation treatment and required an operation on her back after the disease caused her spine to break.

Just days before she died, she had been discharged from a six-week spell in hospital because doctors thought she was doing so well - and she even enjoyed a night out at a friend's birthday party.

However the couple knew she only had months or weeks to live and she died on the morning of December 13 after her condition suddenly deteriorated over night.

However, Colin and Jane shared the philosophy that life had to be lived for the moment and Colin said they made sure they did - something he is now so grateful they adopted.

He said: "Jane went through so much but always recovered and the doctors and nurses that treated her were fantastic.

"She was a fighter and in a way we expected her to be immortal. I was with her when she died and so were her mum and sister.

"We will all miss her very much."

Jane's funeral takes place at Portchester Crematorium on Wednesday at 1pm.