January 16, 2001 10:38: When Charlotte Cooks parents discovered she had a rare type of cancer, their lives fell apart. Thankfully, she recovered and, in Lung Cancer Awareness Month, MATTHEW SKINNER spoke to delighted and relieved Clive and Debbie.

IN HER dark green and yellow uniform, Charlotte Cook looks just like any little girl, excited to be starting school for the first time.

Certainly there is nothing to suggest that, barely a year ago, Charlotte was given only a 50 per cent chance of survival.

When she was just three years old, Charlotte was diagnosed with lung cancer, a disease which affects, on average, only two children under the age of five each year in the UK.

She first complained of pains in her stomach in August 1999 and, thinking she had some kind of chest infection, her parents took her to hospital. However, X-rays showed she had fluid on her lungs, with her right lung having virtually collapsed.

Charlotte was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital where another operation discovered she had contracted a very rare form of lung cancer called pleuropulmonary blastoma.

Her distraught parents Clive, 38, and Debbie, 39, of Ruskin Walk, Bromley, were staggered by the news.

Debbie said: When Charlotte first became ill we werent too worried.

Then, when two days later we were told she had a rare form of cancer, we were devastated.

We thought, Oh God, shes going to die. When doctors mention cancer, you naturally think of death, especially her being such a little thing.

Our life was turned upside down and we were falling apart.

There followed an exceedingly traumatic six months for Charlotte, her parents and her seven year-old brother, Geoffrey.

Charlotte had to undergo months of chemotherapy, during which she lost half-a-stone in weight, and became tired very easily. It also caused her to lose her straight hair, which has now grown back - slightly curly.

Debbie said: We never left her side there was someone with her 24-hours-a-day. We tried to keep as normal a routine as possible, but it was Charlotte who really kept us going. She was so positive and full of life.

Eventually, after months of worry, an X-ray confirmed the cancer had gone, and Charlotte was out of danger.

Debbie added: I didnt know whether to laugh or cry. The relief was extraordinary.

I rang everybody up straight away to tell them the news I could have shouted it from the rooftops.

Charlotte then had a final three months of chemotherapy to make sure the cancer never came back, before leaving hospital to lead a normal life - culminating in her first day at Southborough Primary School in Bromley on January 9.

Her father, Clive, said: We couldnt have believed we would get to this point so quickly. Its a completely new horizon for her.

The Cancer Research Campaign has designated January its Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and Debbie is determined to use her daughters experience as a means of publicising the cause.

Hearing your child has cancer is the hardest news any parent has to face.

Watching the drugs and treatment help her get better made us realise the importance of research. We want others to know too.

And Charlottes verdict on her first day at school? Its wonderful, I really enjoyed it and everybody is very nice.