TEENAGER Katy Pearn has battled back from cancer to be signed up as a model.

The 13-year-old, from Wingate, in County Durham, was struck down with a rare form of the killer disease when she was only three. But she recovered and is now waiting for her catwalk call after being signed up by agency Models Direct.

Her mum Karen, 36, said: "You would not have believed that this gorgeous girl is the same scrawny three-year-old who had no hair and was literally on her last legs. She's so healthy now, you would never imagine she was ever ill, but it just goes to show there is light at the end of the tunnel."

The illness that struck Katy was Wilm's disease, a kind of cancer which affects the kidney.

Much of the following five years was spent in and out of hospital rooms. She needed surgery to remove a tumorous kidney as well as chemotherapy.

She was finally given the all-clear at the age of eight and now a scar on her stomach is the only indication of the devastating illness which could have claimed her life.

Karen added: "It was an unbelievable time for the family and we really thought she was going to die.

"But getting on someone's modelling books is a fantastic achievement for Katy.

"It's nice to be able to tell other parents who are in a similar situation that there can be a happy ending."