SUFFERING blood clots on her lungs will not put rower Natasha Page off her London 2012 dreams.

The 26-year-old from Hartpury has missed a month of training after hospital treatment at the end of last year.

Now, she is back on the water and the spirit she showed in dealing with her illness will now be transferred to her rowing.

Page, who won a bronze in the World Rowing Championships in the women's eight last year, is battling for a place in this year's Olympics.

And the former Hartpury Primary School and Newent Community School pupil knows she has a lot of catching up to do after the trauma of last year.

Page, who lives in Reading to be near training facilities in Caversham, said: "At the end of November I had shooting pains down my shoulder and I thought it was a trapped nerve – a very common complaint in rowers.

"I went to see a doctor and they thought it was pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the lining around the lungs.

"They were about to send me home, but then said it would probably be best if I went to hospital.

"It was then they diagnosed blood clots on the lung.

"It was really serious, I was in a lot of pain and put on morphine.

"I had a whole month off training and now I am back on the water.

"I am about 99.9 per cent recovered, but I am a month behind the others so I have a lot of catching up."

Page, who won a silver medal in last year's Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, said her fellow Great Britain rowers had been supportive.

She said: "I couldn't go to the Portugal training camp with the girls, but everyone has been really helpful.

"The GB medical staff were superb too, including the team doctor Ann Redgrave [wife of Olympic rowing legend, Sir Steve Redgrave].

"I am getting back into full training, but it was disheartening to start with.

"During my illness I went back to Gloucestershire to be with my parents, because when I am in Reading I feel as if I should be training."

Now she is back in the boat, Page said she is focussed on earning her place in the eight for the Olympics and being ready to compete in this year's World Cup series, which begins in Belgrade, Serbia, from May 4 to 6, then continues in Lucerne from May 25 to 27 and finishes in Munich, Germany, from June 15 to 17.

Then it is the Olympics, with heats for the women's eights on July 29 with the final on August 2.

Page also has reason to look beyond London, as she is to marry her fiance, Sam Townsend, who races in the men's quadruple scull, in Hartpury in September.

"It has been hard, but I need to get to 100 per cent for the run up to the Olympics," she said.