A teenager who was just weeks from death is now looking forward to the New Year after having a life-saving heart transplant.

Jessica Brooks, of Louisville Avenue, Gillingham, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when she was 15.

The disease causes the heart muscle to become stretched and thin, so it cannot pump blood around the body effectively.

The 18-year-old said she knew something was wrong as she kept feeling ill. She said: “I was just being sick all the time. I couldn’t walk around and I was sleeping all the time. I did go into hospital but they couldn’t diagnose a heart condition.”

Jessica’s condition got progressively worse and she was told in August last year that she desperately needed a heart transplant.

She was put on the waiting list as an emergency and was taken to Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, in February, to wait for a new heart. Jessica said: “It was amazing. I was put on to the emergency list and then I was taken to hospital to wait for one to come up.

“It only took eight days. It was a huge relief for everyone. I’m doing so much better. I was in a wheelchair for a while but now I’m walking everywhere and I feel a lot better and stronger.”

The former MidKent College student added that she wanted to thank her friends and family for all of their support.

She said: “I’d love to thank family and friends for always being there when I needed them, and the doctors and nurses in each hospital for keeping me going and saving my life, and the donor and family for the most selfless gift of donation – I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for their decision.

“Lastly I’d like to say thank you to my mum, Emily. Everyone else was there but she was by my side every single step of the way. She had to feed me, help me walk, and she helped me with my studies again.

“She had to repeat things she had to do when I was a child and I could see how much it was hurting here, she even stopped work to help look after me. I’m so grateful for everything everyone has done.”

Jessica has been nominated for a Pride in Medway award by her sister, Abbigail Brooks-Barry, nan Jennifer Phillips and great-aunt Sue Radley-Kirk.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it, but it sounded like something my sister would do.”

Abbigail said: “Jessica has been through so much in the last year, she deserved the world.

“She is courageous and never fails to put a smile on our faces when we feel upset about her situations, making light of her condition so we feel better.

“Jess is the bravest person I know and I am so proud of her.”