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Growing up, Gavin Cueto wasn't comfortable in his own skin.

Born a girl, he dressed like a tomboy and was bullied at school , where classmates would remark of him: "Is that a boy or a girl?"

But despite realising he was transgender aged 11 after watching a popular soap opera, he was too terrified to tell his mum.

Instead, he ended up confiding in an unlikely person - his elderly gran.

Elaine, 83, initially "didn't understand it was possible to be born in the wrong body", having never heard the term 'transgender' before.

But after her grandson printed off some documents about it, she told him she would support him - and even urged him to transition.

(Image: Fixers)

(Image: Fixers)

"She was so supportive, and told me that if this was something I wanted to do, then I had to go and do it," says Gavin, now 20.

In a touching YouTube video, Elaine recalls the moment Gavin, then her granddaughter, told her he "wanted to be a boy".

She says: "I’d been to skittles, come home, Gavin was staying the night and I’d had half a lager so I was tired and I was about to go to bed.

"Gavin came in wanting to talk to me. He said, 'nan, I’ve got something to tell you. I want to be a boy'."

She adds: "I said, 'Wouldn’t we all?' We’d all like to be a man, because they’ve got a better life than us."

Despite her initial confusion, Elaine was ultimately supportive of Gavin's revelation - and even chose his new name.

"It made sense in a way," she says. "We knew there was something wrong, so it was nice then to know what it was so that we could help."

(Image: Fixers)

(Image: Fixers)

Gavin, from Newport, Wales, struggled with his emotions growing up and became so depressed that he began self-harming.

The Next stock room assistant says: "I just wasn’t comfortable in the skin I was in.

"I didn't like girls’ clothes, so I dressed like a tomboy. People picked on me at school and would say things like 'is that a boy or a girl?'."

When Gavin was 11, he learned about gender dysphoria - where a person feels their emotional and psychological identity as male or female is opposite to their biological sex - after watching the TV series, Hollyoaks.

The soap featured fictional character Jasmine Costello’s journey as he became into a trans man called Jason Costello in 2011.

"I’d never heard of it before, so watching a character on telly juggling the same emotions as me was illuminating," Gavin says.

(Image: Fixers)

(Image: Fixers)

"It was such a relief to know that I wasn’t going through it alone. Afterwards, I began researching gender dysphoria on the Internet.

"Once I knew it was real, I had to tell someone how I felt."

Gavin reveals how he decided to confide in his elderly grandmother, who used to work as a seamstress at a Newport-based factory.

"I’ve always been really close to my nan," he says.

"I know I can always talk to her and she won’t judge me. I decided to wait until she got back from skittles, where she’d been drinking with her pals, before I told her."

The young man adds: "She hadn’t heard of the term ‘transgender’, so at first she thought I was just bored of being a girl.

"She didn’t understand that it was possible to be born in the wrong body.

"But I printed some research off the Internet for her, as she doesn't have a computer, so that she could learn about it.

(Image: Fixers)

"She was so supportive."

Despite Elaine's reaction, Gavin swore his gran to secrecy - because he was too scared to tell the rest of his family.

Over the next few years, he became more and more depressed as he started puberty and his body began to change.

He says: "I had my first period when I was 14. It felt so wrong because it felt so feminine and translated into having babies, something I could never imagine doing.

"I was horrified and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Then I started to grow breasts, so I did everything I could to disguise them by wearing baggy clothes.

"I even wore four sports bras at a time to try and flatten them down."

Gavin became severely depressed and started self-harming.

He says: "I knew I couldn’t go on living like this and hiding the truth from my family. Things were reaching boiling point and I knew I had to tell them.

(Image: Fixers)

"I didn’t have the guts to speak to my mum directly, so I wrote her a four-page letter explaining how I felt and left it on the sofa before I went to school.

"I explained that I didn’t feel right in my body, and that was why I’d been self-harming.

"I told her how I was going to get all my hair cut off and begin taking the hormone testosterone.

"I ended the letter saying that I'd understand if she didn’t want anything to do with me again, but that I had to live the life that would make me happy."

When Gavin’s mum Julie Godden, 51, read the letter, she burst into tears.

Thankful to have finally learned her child's secret, she pledged to support him.

Julie says: "When I read the letter, I cried. The past two years had been really difficult, so I was just glad that I knew what was wrong.

"I thought Gavin was different from other girls growing up, he never liked dolls, dresses, skirts or anything girlie.

"But I thought he was just going through a phase of being a tomboy."

(Image: Fixers)

She adds: "It has its moments, but once I began learning about what being transgender meant, I could accept it.

"I felt like my daughter had died, and I was grieving for her. But then, I gained a son.

"Our relationship is more precious now, this has brought us together.

"Since coming out, he’s much happier and confident.

"I know Gavin’s story will help a lot of people. It’s hard for parents to understand what they’re going through, but my advice is to just be there for them."

After telling him mum, Gavin and Julie went to the GP.

There, the young man was referred to the Gender Identity Clinic at London's Charing Cross Hospital in September 2016.

Gavin began living as a trans man when he was 17, after which he began taking hormones. He is now waiting for surgery to remove his breasts.

(Image: Fixers)

He says: "I was so relieved by the reactions of my family, because I thought everyone was going to go against me, and I was going to lose everything.

"You hear about people killing themselves because their family doesn’t accept them, you just hear sad stories, I thought it could happen to me.

"One of my biggest regrets is not coming out sooner. I spent two years going through hell as my body went through puberty.

"I can’t advise all transgender young people to go and tell their family how they’re feeling – because I don’t know how they’ll react.

"All I can do is share my own story. Hopefully parents will read it and understand the issues their transgender child is going through better."

Gavin is now campaigning with Fixers , the UK-based charity which gives young people a voice, to improve support for youngsters with gender dysphoria.

(Image: Fixers)

The charity has released a new report calling on the Government to take action.

After surveying 157 people aged 16 to 25 in workshops across Britain, Fixers said it discovered areas where society was failing trans youngsters in the home, at school, at work, in the media, and in healthcare.

A whopping 75 per cent of the people surveyed said their parents were uncomfortable talking about gender identity issues.

The young people called for NHS Trusts and local authorities to provide support networks for parents and relatives of trans young people.

Last summer, the Government announced a review of the legal process for trans people to change their gender.

It also vowed to work to "improve the way people are supported by gender identity services through work on training for NHS staff".

And it said it would work to tackle harassment and bullying in higher education.