GEORGIE, 14, had bone cancer, a major operation and months of chemotherapy, but she has not told her closest friends.

Her week spent at the Youth Cancer Trust, a charity that provides free holidays for young people with cancer, was a very valuable opportunity to meet other people in a similar situation.

The young people spend a week in the house in Westbourne taking part in various activities.

The trust provides a safe environment for them to make friends and share experiences with people who understand what they are going through.

Georgie, who was diagnosed with cancer when she was 13, said: "Hardly any of my friends know I had cancer. I don't really share that. My best friend is the only one who knows but he does not like to talk about it.

"Although my family say they understand they don't really, but here people know all that you have been feeling.

"It is nice to come here for a break. I sometimes feel that I am leading a double life.

"With some people I am Georgie before I had cancer and with others I am Georgie who had cancer."

The David Bowie fan, from Warminster, found out she had cancer after she fell over at a concert and developed a lump on her wrist.

She went to her GP a couple of times and was told she might have fractured her wrist but her mum insisted on getting an X-ray at Salisbury Hospital.

Georgie said: "After the X-ray mum and I were waiting for the results in a room when the doctor asked to talk to her.

"He told mum he thought I had bone cancer. She came back in and she was crying.

"Then she had to phone dad and tell him which was really hard because his mum had died of cancer."

Georgie's treatment included an operation in Stanmore Hospital in London taking bone from her leg and grafting it to her wrist.

She said: " A short time before the operation my mum got off the phone from the hospital and she came running upstairs saying good news they have worked out a way of saving your arm'. I was shocked because I had no idea I was going to lose my arm."

She spent most of a year in Southampton Hospital having chemotherapy. Her mum had to stop work to stay with her while she was having the treatment while her dad cared for her younger sister at home.

Georgie was particularly annoyed about having to start chemo the day she was planning to go to a concert she had spent a long time saving up for.

She said: "They let me home for my 14th birthday but I had to be back in hospital the next day. The staff in the hospital were really good when I was conscious enough - they made me do school work."

Georgie is now back at school being taught individually, but is finding it difficult.

She said: "It is not the same feeling as being in a classroom. I am still really scared of people. I am not one for going into crowds and the school corridors can get busy."

Despite all these difficulties Georgie is very positive. She said: "My having cancer has brought our family closer together. It was hard but in the end it did us some good."

She is also full of praise for the work of the Youth Cancer Trust: "I love being here."

Now the charity has a major fundraising drive to pay for an extension to Tracy Ann House.

The extension will provide more accommodation, a larger games room with better facilities, more car parking and more space for the youngsters to enjoy the time they spend at Tracy Ann House.