A man with motor neurone disease was given a terminal sentence while his wife lay in a stroke induced coma.

Tragedy struck the Whelan family at the beginning of June when mum Laura had a seizure and was taken to Whipps Cross Hospital, where doctors discovered she had blood clots in a vein running through her brain.

The 47 year-old was transferred to Royal London Hospital and lay in a coma for three weeks.

As doctors prepared to perform rare and delicate surgery to remove the clots, Mrs Laura's husband Robert, or Nobby to his friends on the Waitrose butcher counter, was told his recent diagnoses of motor neurone disease had left him with a life expectancy of between one and three years.

"It was awful," said Paige Whelan, who cares for her parents while working towards an early childhood studies degree at East London University.

"We thought nothing else could go wrong, but it did."

With Mr Whelan now unable to walk all but the shortest distances and his time left limited, the family are keen to get Mrs Whelan out of hospital and by his side.

The former Waitrose worker has a severely weakened right side of her body and is unable to use her hand or properly move her leg.

Thanks to an intensive five-day-a-week course of physiotherapy at Homerton University Hospital however, the Colebrook Lane, Loughton resident is able to walk 15 steps.

Now she faces a difficult choice.

Laura Whelan, with good friends Jacob Kemp and Kim Wright

Miss Whelan added: "Me, my brother and dad are very eager for her to come home, especially for Christmas.

"Because of my dad's condition, mum has been told she can come home in December 2018, but by then she won't be strong enough to transfer herself from a chair to the toilet.

"Or she can come home in January 2019, when she may be able to.

"She is very unsure, because time is precious due to my dad's health."

Although Mrs Whelan is desperate to get home and spend as much time as possible with her husband, she will only be entitled to one NHS physiotherapy session a week.

In order to make sure she is fit and back on her feet as quickly as possible, Miss Whelan has set up a fundraising page to help pay for more physical rehabilitation.

To donate, click here.