A young opera singer has revealed her battle with cancer which nearly left her unable to speak and threatened her dream of becoming a singer.

Lydia Haynes, 21, from St Albans, is speaking out about her experience during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

She is due to sing at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall later this month.

“Since I was basically able to talk I was singing, it’s been a massive part of my life. At times I thought I should get a “proper job” and I’ll just sing for fun but if I did anything else I’d be lying to myself” Lydia said.

“In a way, I thank God He gave me cancer in my throat because it made me realise how important my voice is to me - singing keeps me feeling alive.

"There was a chance I would never speak again never mind sing. It was too much to think about at the time that I might not sing again but I didn’t have a choice - it was have the treatment and risk losing your voice or death.”

Lydia was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in the throat in 2011, when she was 16, after noticing a lump on her throat.

She said: “I was at home, singing and doing my makeup in the mirror and I noticed on my throat there was lump around the size of a golf ball.

"I just thought - people get swollen glands all the time, so it’s probably nothing to worry about but I would call doctors just in case.

“I had around two months of appointments, biopsies, tests and all the time they said it was nothing to worry about.”

After her doctors initially dismissed the lumps as swollen glands a biopsy test finally led to the shock diagnosis of cancer.

Lydia said: “I never once thought it would be cancer, it just didn’t seem possible. I was 16 years old, a young healthy person and thought it would all be fine. I even felt bad for wasting NHS time.

“I had this guilt that I might have made a fuss over nothing and that people would think I was doing it for attention or that I was lying.

"When they said it could be cancer I was so shocked, I didn’t know what to do.”

The aspiring singer had an operation to remove the tumour on her throat which was only partially successful and left her with a large scar.

She was then transferred to the Teenage Cancer Trust ward at UCLH where they planned to remove the remaining tumour and underwent radioactive iodine therapy in August 2012.

“The treatment makes you radioactive and it attacks the cancer cells. Because I was radioactive I had to be in isolation in a lead-lined room for a week, no one was allowed to touch me,” Lycia said

“It was the first time I cried, I was begging the nurses to not make me do it. I was frightened to be alone but I knew I had to do it to live. I was tired of being strong and I broke down.”

The therapy, operation and following surgery was a success and Lydia is now four years in remission.

Lydia, who kept up her A-level studies throughout her illness and recently graduated from the University of Birmingham with a 2:1 music degree, tried to keep her cancer a secret from her lecturers, other musicians and at auditions.

As well going on to fulfil her dream of singing professionally, Lydia was spotted and offered the chance to be a plus sized model.

She has since set up a blog 'howtohavecancerandstillfeelsexy' and is a keen advocate for body positivity post cancer.