A YOUNG leukaemia sufferer tried to kill herself when her friends deserted her after she was diagnosed with the debilitating disease.

Ragan Golightly, 12, swallowed pills and cut her wrists when her school friends stopped visiting after the effects of the wasting disease started to show.

The once-popular teenager was so depressed she left suicide notes telling her parents she was "sorry for everything".

Ragan said: "I took a lot of tablets and cut my arms because I was so unhappy.

"I blame myself because I'm very nasty when I have my mood swings. I miss my friends and I'm bored without them."

Ragan fell ill in June last year and, after being diagnosed with the disease, became very depressed.

The once fun-loving red-head stopped receiving calls from her many friends, and visits to the cinema and swimming baths soon ceased.

Her father, John Golightly, of South Shields, South Tyneside, described how she had changed from a normal, fun-loving girl to a depressed shadow of her former self.

The 38-year-old train driver said: "After doctors diagnosed Ragan with leukaemia and the school found out, all the children made her get-well cards and sent them to the house.

"It was then that all her friends stopped coming round and asking if she wanted to go out and play."

Ragan has lost all her hair through her treatment, and because she finds it difficult to keep her food down she has lost a lot of weight.

One night after Christmas she took pills, but vomited them up again.

Her mother, Clare, 32, said: "She used to have lots of friends and was really popular, but children don't understand and don't know what to say."

The teenager is now in remission from the cancer and is due to finish an eight-week intense treatment course soon.

Mr Golightly added: "We've all got our fingers crossed, but she is a little fighter and is determined to get through it.