Losing any loved one is never easy, but Janice Robertson was dealt a triple tragedy when her mother, father and brother all died in less than two weeks.

AFTER returning from a new year holiday in Turkey, little did housewife Janice Robertson know how cruel 2007 would be.

The 53-year-old, of Sheldon Close, Lee, was dealt a crushing blow when, in quick succession, she lost both her parents and her brother.

The nightmare began on January 4 when her 59-year-old brother Barry Lincoln was rushed into Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Stadium Road, Woolwich, suffering kidney failure.

The grandmother-of-10 called an ambulance for her brother after he collapsed at the home he shared with their parents Sidney and Eileen in Eltham Green Road, Eltham.

Two days later, her 84-year-old father was rushed into Queen Elizabeth Hospital for an emergency operation after suffering bowel and stomach complications.

Sadly, amputee Sidney - who served as a private in the West Kent Regiment during the Second World War - died on January 7, surrounded by family members, including his 14 grandchildren.

Mrs Robertson said: "It was so emotional. We were all around his bedside, and my mum was there too.

"When he died, she just said: Goodnight, darling, sleep well'. We had managed to get Barry down to his bedside too."

But the mother-of-six was about to suffer further heartbreak.

She added: "Mum wasn't right after dad died. She had a really bad chest infection, so I got the doctor out five days after dad died.

"She was admitted to hospital too. They ran tests which showed she had suffered a mini heart attack on the day dad died."

Mrs Robertson supported her brother and mother in hospital at the same time as planning her father's funeral.

On the morning of his cremation at Lewisham Crematorium, Verdant Lane, Catford, she got the call she had been dreading.

She said: "The hospital called half an hour before dad's funeral on January 18. They told me mum had passed away.

"It was so hard not being there when she died.

"I was distraught, guilty almost, but there was nothing I could do.

"Then I had to go to dad's funeral and pull myself together for him."

As if she had not suffered enough, at the end of a long day she received another call from the hospital.

It was about her brother, former builder Barry. He was deteriorating rapidly. The next day, he also died.

Barry and Eileen were cremated in a joint ceremony on January 29 and Mrs Robertson says their ashes will be buried in Hill View Cemetery, Welling, later this year.

She added: "I'd like to say thank you to my amazing family and friends for their support.

"I feel like I am living through a nightmare, but hopefully with time and counselling I will come through this a stronger person."