A BRAVE schoolgirl who battled a mystery disease has been honoured for her courage in the 1999 national Child of Achievement Awards.

Lucy Greenwood, 11, of Sunnybank Close, Helmshore, was nominated by Christine Myers, deputy headteacher at Helmshore Primary School, who said Lucy's strength of character shone through throughout her ordeal.

The first sign that anything was wrong with Lucy came in 1996 at the start of a family holiday to Florida, when she started limping badly.

On their return to England, Lucy's parents took her to see their family doctor who passed her onto a specialist at Burnley General - but he could find nothing wrong.

The limp continued to worsen and Lucy began to lose weight, but an X-ray on her leg showed nothing.

Then her parents, Robert and Lindsay, both 41, discovered a lump on Lucy's leg. After seeing doctors at Fairfield Hospital in Bury and the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital - who feared Lucy had cancer - medics at the children's hospital in Birmingham finally diagnosed chronic osteomyelitis, a rare bone infection. Mr Greenwood said: "It was treated with huge doses of antibiotics. She was in a wheelchair for several months but she was desperate to get back to school. "To me she coped very well but it must have been terribly stressful for her."

Mrs Myers, who nominated Lucy for the award, said: "She was under so much emotional pressure and yet she always managed to to a very kind, pleasant and cheerful child. She kept all her pain to herself.

"She came back to school in a wheelchair but she was determined to get out of the chair and join in. She caught up well in class and she has taken part in two of our musicals since then. We are doing Bugsy Malone in March and she is one of the principal dancers in that.

"Her strength of character has shone through."

Lucy will receive her award at a star-studded ceremony in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel, London, on Sunday.

The Child of Achievement Awards are supported by C&A.

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