A DIAGNOSIS of cancer is not only tough on the patient, but also on the rest of the family. At Tracy Ann House in Bournemouth, youngsters with the disease are often accompanied by a brother, sister or friend to help them relax and enjoy a holiday by the seaside.

Georgie Worsfold, 18, and her 15-year-old sister Rhiannun have just been on their first visit to the Youth Cancer Trust centre near Alum Chine in Westbourne.

Rhiannun, nicknamed Bre by her family, was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma last December.

"It goes back to last summer. She went to hospital because she had really bad stomach pains," explained Georgie, the eldest of four girls.

After some investigation, Rhiannun was prescribed a medicine commonly used for indigestion and heartburn, but she continued battling throat infections and stomach pains for months before a scan identified the cause. Lymph nodes in her throat, chest and stomach were affected.

The diagnosis put paid to the family's planned holiday to Australia.

"Everyone apart from me and my youngest sister was going. It's been their dream to move over there," said Georgie.

The family, from Crawley in Sussex, rallied round during Rhiannun's treatment. "I can drive, so I was helping out with taking mum back and forth to hospital and taking my youngest sister to school. It was hard, but all the family got involved," said Georgie.

Rhiannun only recently finished an intensive six-month course of chemotherapy, which made her lose her hair. "She had her ups and downs. She kept getting infections," recalled Georgie.

She cannot remember how the family heard about the Youth Cancer Trust, but she jumped at the chance to accompany her sister to Bournemouth.

"She's in remission now. For her to come here and do fun things is good for her. It's nice to see her enjoying herself. "Our parents are in Cyprus so they're having a break as well, but something like this is much more memorable. We have the run of the house. It's nice for Bre not to be nagged constantly. It's given her a new boost of confidence. She's come out of her shell quite a lot.

"We haven't stopped really. On Monday we played pool, went to the beach and played Wii, on Tuesday we went sailing, Wednesday we went go-karting and Thursday horse riding."

Rhiannun said of her break: "It's really good. It gives you a totally different experience to meet other people, to find out about their illnesses and talking about their brothers and sisters. "For the last six months, I've been with mum or dad. I've been getting home tutoring. It's nice to have a bit of a change. Being ill, you do a lot of sitting around. I want to get up and go. I've enjoyed the sailing the best."

Rhiannun is due to start back at school in September and dreams of becoming a chef. She is also trying to regain her fitness to resume playing in her football team. "I've been falling over quite a bit recently. It's something to do with the nerve endings in the foot."

She plans to go to New York for her 16th birthday in December and the family trip to Australia is back on for next January.