Marteene Pringle: I have always been female in my mind

Point of View is an ITV News series where we invite people to share their life experiences and what they've learned from them.

Marteene Pringle from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire always knew something didn't feel right from an early age. She used to gravitate towards her sister's toys and clothes. In school, she was often alone and didn't make many friends.

Marteene was then pushed into the Army, and although she enjoyed it, one day when she was on the firing range, she tried to commit suicide. That was within the first year of joining.

She wanted to confide in her daughter, who she was very close with, about how she was feeling. But her daughter hung herself before she got the chance.

Six months after splitting up from her wife, Marteene started using hormones. She then confided in her other daughter, who was at university at the time, who had nothing but love for her.

It took Marteene six months to tell her boss about how she was feeling. On her birthday she decided to come to work as Marteene.

Despite lots of negativity, she says the positivity she receives from people is amazing and a lot of it is down to education.

Marteene is encouraging other Trans people to embrace how they're feeling and be who they are as she never thought she'd be as happy as she is now.