Favershams pioneering patient Roisin Kelleher has become the first person in the UK to receive life-saving treatment for cystic fibrosis.

Roisin, of Whitstable Road, returned home from America after spending two weeks in the Dominican Republic undergoing stem-cell transplants.

The 20-year-old, who is a pupil at Queen Elizabeths Grammar School, was also diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in July last year and her health suddenly and rapidly declined.

Roisin and her mum Anntoinette lying in bed, with brother Cian

Her breathlessness, fatigue and endless amounts of medication and trips to London hospitals had taken a full grip on her life and school and dreams of university became completely out of reach.

In a life-changing moment, doctors suggested that Roisin was placed on a waiting list for a double lung transplant, a suggestion that Roisin described as like signing my own death warrant.

Roisin Kelleher has cystic fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. Picture: Tony Flashman

But her mother Anntoinette refused to give up hope and discovered Dr Grekos miraculous treatment in the Dominican Republic.

Adult stem cell treatment heals the damaged lung tissues by harvesting healthy cells from the patients bone marrow and that of a genetic relative who does not suffer from CF.

For Roisin, the donor was her mother.

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Faversham woman Roisin Kelleher first in UK to receive life-saving stem cell treatment for cystic fibrosis