A TEENAGE girl says being diagnosed with cancer at 15 has "opened her eyes" to life.

Natasha McNeil, from Glasgow, found out she had stage 3 Hodgkins Lymphoma on January 4 and started chemotherapy days later.

While most 15-year-olds are just beginning the path to adulthood, Natasha says the shock diagnosis forced her to grow up, virtually overnight.

However it also gave her a new lust for life.

She said: "It's opened my eyes to what life actually is. I can't be a teenager for ever. There is this point and my point was the 4th of January when I had to just grown up and realise

this is my life.

"Do what you want to do and don't listen to anyone else.

"I want to go places, I want to see things, I want to work abroad and I want to study law."

Natasha, who lives in the Kinning Park area, went to the doctor after finding a lump under her left arm. She was referred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for tests which revealed she had Hodgkins Lymphoma, a rare cancer which develops in the lymphatic system.

She said: "When you are told you have cancer, you can't hear anything. I couldn't speak, I was numb. My eyes were filled up with tears. It was really, really big shock.

"I was feeling fine just a bit tired. It was fortunate that it was in my lymp but it wasn't in my blood."

Natasha started six rounds of chemotherapy and while she says she didn't suffer too many bad side-effects, losing her long hair left her devastated.

She said: "My hair was my everything. You get told your hair is going to fall out but nothing prepares you for it.

"One day I was going out with my gran, I decided to blow dry it and straighten it. It was coming out in clumps and clumps. I just went down the stairs in tears.

"My hair was really long.

"What I said to myself, is that it's not forever. I don't bother with wigs now. I put it on if I'm going out and it ends up in my bag.

"My hair is starting to grow back between treatments.

"I've just been going out, staying strong and trying not to let it get to you.

"There is no point being negative, it puts a strain on your body.

"I've just accepted it. There is nothing I can do but just go to the hospital and get my chemo."

Natasha was about to sit her prelim National 5 exams at Bellahouston Academy when she was diagnosed.

She said: "This is just a big change for me. I've lost quite a lot of school. I'll just have to go back and do the last year again."

Natasha is looking forward to ringing the bell at the Teenage Cancer Trust unit which will signal the end of her chemo next month. She will then be scanned to make sure the treatment has been a success.

While the medical care given is comparable to other hospitals, the unit differs in that it offers special spaces for teen patients to chill out, listen to music or watch a movie with other teenagers who have cancer.

Natasha said: ''It's a great place to hang out.

“We can relate to each other and we know each other's stories. We can meet other teenagers with cancer who understand what it's like.

"There are certain days where you will feel down and crap.

"I remember those days. My first two chemo's I just sat on the couch and thought, why me? But I would have a cry with my friends.

"After this I'd never take health for granted."

Natasha's gran Christine McNeil, said: "It's very, very stressful. Since 23rd of January, I don't know where the year has gone.

"You've just got to do it. Natasha has just been amazing. There is a light at the end of the tunnel."

Natasha's story will feature in a documentary, Growing Up with Cancer about the Teenage Cancer Trust at Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Children which will be aired tonight (Monday) on BBC 1 at 7.30pm.