A TEENAGER with cystic fibrosis who underwent a life-saving operation which has transformed her life has starred in a national TV documentary.

Jessica Paddock’s journey on joining the list for a lung transplant was televised on BBC Two’s Great Ormond Street on Tuesday night.

The 15-year-old from Winterbourne Earls was among four children with serious respiratory conditions documented in the programme.

Jess was followed by the camera crew as she faced an anxious wait for a donor organ to become available — two years after initially deciding she wasn’t ready to join the list.

And in October last year, while she was in the final stage of cystic fibrosis, an organ donor match was found and Jessica had the successful operation.

Reflecting on the documentary, mother Cheryl said: “Until Jessica was approached, I couldn’t watch these kinds of programmes.

"They are too upsetting, but this one had a happy ending.

“The film crew were fantastic as they were with us the whole time and were really good.

“They actually stood in and filmed her 10-hour operation in the corner – they saw everything.

“It was a weird sensation seeing her on the table being cut open.

“It was just surreal to watch her old lungs and the surgeons in theatre.

“She found it hard to watch as that was the old Jessica who was given just months to live.

“It shows how much her life has changed and this story who she is.

“It’s so good to see her back to normal.”

Since the operation, Jessica, who was voted as the Journal’s Young Person of the Year at its Local Hero Awards in 2014, is making “amazing” progress.

She’s gone back to Trafalgar School in Downton full-time and is getting ready to start her GCSEs.

Due to her illness, Jess has to do an extra year in school but that hasn’t stopped her already setting her sights, and a fund, on going to university and training to become a barrister.

Now, she is able to go swimming, cycling and spend time with her friends.

She said: “Watching it back it didn’t really seem like me – I’ve changed a lot.

“That was the old me and this is the new me.

“Now, I love going swimming at Parkwood.”

Cheryl is urging people to sign up to the organ donor register to make a difference and help save more lives.

Visit organdonation.nhs.uk