EVERY day Sue Bury sits by her terminally ill daughter and holds her hand.

She stays on Ward B1 at the Royal Bolton Hospital until long after the rest of us have settled in front of the TV.

This daily "labour of love" for her 10-year-old daughter, Ginnia Roberts, began almost 12 months ago when she slipped into a coma. This followed massive bleeding on the brain as a result of Polyarteritis Nodosa -- a disorder which affects the blood vessels leading to the brain.

Three years ago, when the BEN highlighted Ginnia's plight, hundreds of people raised funds to send her on a dream holiday. Part of this was a trip to Lapland, and last Christmas she went there to meet Santa.

Sadly, for the Tonge Moor schoolgirl, it looks like being a very different story this Christmas. Her days and nights are spent in a twilight world where she can do nothing but open her beautiful, long-lashed eyes.

And on opening them, the first person she sees is her mother, who keeps vigil day and night and has done so since Ginnia fell into a coma on January 13.

But Sue will not give up hope on her daughter. She says: "Where there is life, there is hope and I have lots and lots of that."