Robin Gibb has told doctors there will "never be a time" when he is ready to die.

The Bee Gees star recently woke from a coma, much to the shock of medical professionals. He has been battling colon and liver cancer and then developed pneumonia, eventually losing consciousness.

Although doctors told his family they feared the worst, Robin has woken up and is now talking to his loved ones.

His strength has amazed his wife Dwina. "The doctors asked Robin if he wanted them to do everything in their power to save his life or if he felt the time would come when enough was enough," she told British newspaper The Sun.

"He told them, There will never be a time when enough is enough. I want to live no matter what.'"

Robin was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 but was thought to have beaten the disease.

Then earlier this year he was found to have a twisted colon, a condition which was particularly poignant for the 62-year-old star.

"It was the same condition from which his twin brother Maurice died in 2003. Robin was in terrible pain and very frightened," Dwina recalled.

"I had to stay at the hospital with him 24/7, sleeping on a camp bed.

"At one point Robin was on an intravenous drip, when he turned pink because of an allergic reaction. I was able to call the nurses and they saved his life."

Doctors then realised the star had a perforated bowel, which needed an operation. It was decided Robin would have it even though there was only a ten per cent survival rate.

It was explained to Dwina that the first part of the surgery was the most important, and she calls those the "worst 20 minutes" of her life.

Robin pulled through and was even taken off a ventilator quicker than was expected. Soon after that he was developed pneumonia.

Family members began singing to the star and playing him music.

"As we played him his song I Started A Joke, he opened his mouth on cue to sing," Dwina said.

"But it seemed too much of a coincidence that the only time Robin opened his mouth was the exact point in the song when he would have started singing.

"We persuaded them to let us test my theory by attaching electrodes to Robin's brain and monitoring his reactions to the music."

Robin eventually woke up when he was played Titanic Requiem, the classical piece he composed with his son RJ.

"We have to take each day as it comes. Robin has been seriously ill. Every time I go to hospital to see him, I am so happy to be there, so happy to see him with his eyes open and talking," Dwina added.