function nl2br_save_html($string)
{
    if(! preg_match("#</.*>#", $string)) // avoid looping if no tags in the string.
        return nl2br($string);

    $string = str_replace(array("\r\n", "\r", "\n"), "\n", $string);

    $lines=explode("\n", $string);
    $output='';
    foreach($lines as $line)
    {
        $line = rtrim($line);
        if(! preg_match("#</?[^/<>]*>$#", $line)) // See if the line finished with has an html opening or closing tag
            $line .= '<br />';
        $output .= $line . "\n";
    }

    return $output;
}

stripslashes(nl2br_save_html($r['data']));