FROM her earliest childhood, Diana Day knew she was a woman, although she had been born a man and christened Derek.

But on September 30 this year, Diana, 48, will complete a journey to full womanhood when she undergoes gender reassignment surgery in a Canadian clinic.

Although it is going to cost her the best part of £8,000, not including the air fare and living expenses, it will be the best-spent purchase of her life.

Even as a schoolboy in Dartford, Kent, Diana knew there was something not quite right about who she was and what she was. She said: "My childhood was very happy, but I knew something was wrong, though I didn't know what. In my teenage years things started happening to my body that I didn't want to happen.

"This was 1967, and despite being the "swingin' Sixties", society was not geared to asking certain questions. I was not happy with myself but I had to fit in with the way people perceived me."

She could not entirely hide her problems from her parents and when she was 15 or 16, they asked her if she was homosexual. She said: "I was furious at the question, but they at least identified that I was different in some way."

Diana, or Derek, eventually got married and had two children with her partner. Her son is now 18 and her daughter 13. They have no problem with their father's change of identity. Diana said: "They have known me as Diana for most of their lives."

Diana had a successful career with BT and then moved on to work for the John Lewis Partnership.

In 1991, however, the pressure of living a double life, as she puts it, became intolerable and she decided she had to deal with it. Derek became Diana and she started a course of hormone treatment leading to a complete gender change.

Unfortunately, the side effects of the hormone therapy include increased emotional sensitivity and she would constantly find herself anxious, angry, stressed and depressed.

She said: "Gender dysphasia is a recognised, well-known clinical illness but at that time there was no support, either at work or in the community, to help me through this period."

It was a very dark time for Diana. She had two nervous breakdowns and she was eventually forced to resign from her job.

It was just at this time that Maddie Leighton, the owner of Ab Fab costume hire in Devizes, re-established contact through the website Friends Re-united. The two had been friends at school and more than 30 years later found they had more in common than ever.

Ms Leighton was going through a period of great stress as her former partner, Nicholas England, was stalking her and would eventually be imprisoned for doing so. Diana said: "Meeting Maddie again was meant. We are soul mates and she has saved me from total despair."

Meanwhile, life in Kent was getting unpleasant. Diana had moved from the marital home and she was encountering great discrimination where she had moved. She said: "Between August 2001 and February 2003 I reported six trans-gender crimes to the local police. I was verbally abused at least once a week, the 14 to 19-year-old age group being the worst."

Finally in February, a brick through her lounge window made her accept Ms Leighton's invitation to come and stay with her in Wiltshire.

She said: "Coming to Devizes I thought would be a step back in time and I expected more abuse than I got in Kent. Nothing could have been further from the truth. People have accepted me and working in the shop has been better therapy for me than any counselling session.

"I find I can speak openly and honestly on any subject with the people I meet. I have met some wonderful people and everyone has been so supportive. I am overwhelmed."

Even before moving to Wiltshire, Diana had become involved in the Rubicon Society, an organisation set up by another trans-sexual, Rachael Hopkins, to provide support for others going through the same process.

The upcoming operation in Canada will be a watershed. Diana said: "I am destined to make my niche in life and the Rubicon Society will be a big part of that."