Sisters Amy and Christa Cracknell knew from a young age they were different to most little girls.

Instead of wearing pretty dresses and trying out make-up, they preferred wearing jeans and playing football.

They were known to all their friends as tomboys.

Their mother, Linda, 44, of Burgess Hill, assumed it was just a phase.

But as the years passed she realised what she thought was a phase was far more serious.

By the time her children entered their mid-teens they had both been diagnosed as transsexuals.

Both had decided to become boys. Amy became Alex and Christa, Chris.

The sisters became brothers.

Coming to terms with the transformations has been hard for Linda, but she says, despite everything, she has always been very proud of her children.

She said: "Maybe another mum would have given up, resented her kids for causing so much pain.

"But for me, something clicked inside.

"This was nature, the way my family was meant to be. Amy or Alex, Christa or Chris - they were still my children.

"They were ready to take the stares from neighbours, awkward comments from friends. Shouldn't I, the mother, do the same?

"So I looked on what had happened as something to be proud of, not ashamed. Something to live with, not fight against."

But despite her strength, Linda admits the last few years have been difficult for the family, which includes her youngest son Toby, ten.

"My girls hated anything, well, girlie," she said.

"They were always in jeans, building dens or kicking footballs.

"It hurt. I'd been so excited at having girls - imagined the fun of sharing make-up tips, chatting about boys."

It was when Amy was 15 Linda first became seriously concerned.

Her daughter had grown withdrawn and sulky and Linda had no idea why.

She said: "If I walked in and caught her naked she'd scream at me. Breasts were developing under her baggy jumpers, her hips filling out her jeans. I decided to give her space but she started coming home with red eyes from crying. I couldn't ignore it."

Linda discovered the reason for her eldest daughter's tears were that other children were calling her a lesbian. She confronted her.

"Suddenly it all spilled out," she said. "She felt confused and didn't know why she was attracted to girls."

Amy insisted she was not a lesbian but her mother found it hard to believe.

She said: "I wanted to believe her but my heart said different."

Amy left school at 16 to become a painter and decorator. It was then she watched a television programme about transsexualism and sent off for an information leaflet.

Soon afterwards, Amy went to see her GP who told her he thought she was a transsexual - a boy trapped in a girl's body.

She was told to change her name by deed poll and spend a year living as a boy to see how it felt.

When the 12 months was over, it was official. Amy was over the moon. It all suddenly made sense.

From then on, she began the long process of becoming a man, taking hormone injections every three weeks at Charing Cross Hospital. The treatment was all NHS funded.

"I was watching the girl I had given birth to change her identity forever," said Linda. "And there was nothing I could do."

Within three months Amy's voice had broken and her periods had stopped. She had hairs sprouting from her chin and fuzzing on her knuckles.

Christa, meanwhile, watched her sister's transformation enviously from the sidelines.

"She'd always worshipped Amy," said Linda. "She still did, forever whispering with her in the garden, asking how she felt."

But as Linda came to terms with her eldest daughter disappearing, she began to suspect Christa might want to follow suit.

She said: "I'd always thought Christa wasn't a true tomboy, just copied Amy. But then she too talked about wanting treatment, being called Chris."

Aged 16, Christa asked to see a GP to find out if she too was a transsexual.

It was advised she should be assessed by a psychiatrist to make sure she was not simply copying her sister.

She also changed her name and lived for about a year as a boy.

Meanwhile, there was more news for the family to take in as Linda and her partner Paul Williams revealed that they were expecting their first child together.

"The pregnancy was always planned and I was thrilled," said Linda.

"It had been a stressful few years for us all and this was such good news. I was not worried about the gender of my baby. After what I had been through I know I would have loved her no matter what."

Three years ago she gave birth to Abigail.

But as one daughter was born, another was lost.

Christa's two-year assessment period was over and she too was to become a boy.

Now, four years after beginning his hormone treatment, Alex has grown into a handsome 22-year-old and is still taking testosterone injections.

Next year he expects to have a double mastectomy, a hysterectomy and phaloplasty, which will see his genital organs changed from female to male.

He even has a girlfriend who has fully accepted his past.

Chris, 20, has undergone six months of hormone injections and is planning to have the same operations within the next few years.

Linda said: "I have just one daughter now and Abigail is very much a girl.

"I dress her in pink and buy her dolls. She seems to love them. There is no doubt in my mind that she is a girl.

"However much I can understand what has happened to Amy and Christa, I still want Abigail to stay my little girl. But if she were to go the same way as her brothers, I'd have to accept that too.

"Because above all I am a mum. I hope I have not caused any distress to my family or friends but if swapping sex is what makes my children happy, then they have my blessing."

This article is based on a story in the September 5 edition of That's Life
magazine.