Bride whose dying wish was to get married has made a miraculous recovery after making ONE lifestyle change
Now she lives a normal lifestyle but still avoids one item of food
A DYING woman who strived to stay alive so she could marry her childhood sweetheart before she passed away is now celebrating her recovery - thanks to giving up sugar.
Jessica Bean, 28, has suffered from cystic fibrosis since birth and at aged 21 her health deteriorated - leaving her fighting for her life.
Jessica, who lives in Australia, said: "Even with a lung transplant, I'd never have the life I'd hoped for. I'd constantly be on anti-rejection drugs and there was a risk the surgery wouldn't work.
"Reluctantly, I agreed to go on the transplant list, but I didn't give up hope there was another way.
"We moved to Queensland from my hometown in Tasmania to be closer to the hospitals and spent hours each day in physio, praying my lungs would improve."
With such a bleak diagnosis, a hospitalised Jessica began to plan her wedding.
Amazingly, it her was big day that changed her life in more ways than one.
The photographer of her wedding was the wife of a chap who was an advocate of a sugar-free diet, Gary Fettke, and the pair were put in touch to see if it could help her.
After she got hitched to 29-year-old Cameron, and close to the end, Jessica abandoned sugar and remarkably saw positive results immediately.
She said: "I've always had to have a high calorie diet because of my condition as I burned more calories fighting to breathe every day.
"Generally I ate around 4,000 calories a day, twice the amount a normal woman would eat, and relied on things like sugary chocolate bars and lollies to give me an easy calorie boost."
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In support of Jessica's new diet her hubby took smoothies to her in hospital which were made from healthy fats such as peanut butter and avocado.
Her lung capacity improved so much that doctors put her forward to trial the drug Orkambi in Australia, which costs more than £150,000 a year.
Thankfully, she was accepted to take part and her recovery process was accelerated once again.
Jessica added: "Within days of taking the medication that targets the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis, I could feel the benefits. I wasn't waking up vomiting anymore and I could breathe.
"After a few weeks, I was on my feet again. It was almost unbelievable.
"The best thing was being able to do normal things like the grocery shopping and spend Christmas with my family. I never thought I'd do those things again."
Jessica, who previously took 40 pills per day to manage her cystic fibrosis, used to travel overseas to help charities fund raise and "had dreams of saving the world".
Now the free-spirited woman is able to enjoy her independence again.
She added: "I've gone from thinking my husband will marry and bury me in a matter of months, to enjoying my life and planning my future.
"I honestly thought I was going to die, so to not only be here, but to be doing things I never imagined possible is unreal."