Irish singer Bernie Nolan has returned home to live out her final days with her family after doctors ruled there is nothing further they can do in her cancer battle.

The Nolans star revealed in October (12) she is fighting the disease again, just two years after doctors gave her the all-clear from breast cancer, and earlier this year (13), she was rushed to hospital with a suspected blood clot on her lungs.

A nurse told Nolan's husband Steve Doneathy the singer is nearing the end of her life and she was moved to a hospice last month (Feb13).

Doneathy tells Britain's Sunday Mirror, "A nurse took me into another room, and told me we were looking at an end-of-life situation. My whole world turned upside down in a second...

"I went in (to see Nolan) and said, 'The doctors think you're very, very poorly, and you're not getting better'. Straight away, like I knew she would, she said, 'Am I going to die?' I told her yes. She was quiet. She didn't say anything for about 30 seconds. And then she said, 'F**k'. She was quietly angry. And then we cried, hugged and said we loved each other."

Recalling the moment the couple told teenage daughter Erin the prognosis, Doneathy adds, "We sat her down on the bed and told her we had bad news. She asked, 'Are you going to die, Mum?' We had to tell her yes."

Nolan decided to move back to the family home in Surrey, England to live out her final days, but the family was dealt a further blow when thieves ransacked the house and trashed a box of treasured keepsakes.

Doneathy says, "I called my friend to see if he would pop round to the house. We needed to get things fitted to help Bernie get up and down the stairs. But he called me back and said, 'Steve, you've been broken into'.

"We have a little box in the front room that has a padlock on it. It's where we keep photographs of our first daughter Kate (who was stillborn in 1997)... They'd smashed the padlock off that and tipped it all over the floor, just in case it was full of jewellery."

However, Doneathy adds, "Getting Bernie back was brilliant. It's being alive, these tiny little things that make up your days and your life and you don't even realise. We didn't have any of that in the hospice.

"Now we're home it doesn't feel so much like we're just waiting. Obviously we know Bernie is going to be very poorly again. But in the meantime we want to lead as normal a life as we possibly can. We think we can cope. I can do everything she needs. I'm giving her her medication. Bernie can walk a little bit, sit up and eat. So for now, it's Ok.

"The idea of curing it or treating it, or making it smaller isn't there now. She could have gone to hospice until the end, but she wanted to come home. We have no idea how long that might be. Bernie is a strong girl with a will of steel and a big heart. She's still got some fire in her belly. If anyone can keep on going, it's Bernie. She's amazing."

Nolan has talked about her funeral plans with relatives, and wants to be buried alongside their late daughter Kate.