FORMER cabaret dancer Jan Abbott will going for gold in a very special competition this week - just two years after undergoing major surgery.

The 23-year-old from St Helens was working in a nightclub in the Spanish capital Madrid when she became ill.

Doctors diagnosed a blockage in one of her main arteries and said her only chance of survival would be a heart transplant.

But just a month after receiving her new heart at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, the bubbly blonde was back on her feet and parading along the catwalk as a model in a charity fashion show in aid of the hospital's 'New Heart, New Start'

Now Jan, whose rapid recovery startled doctors, is preparing to take part in the Guardian Health British Transplant Games in Cardiff.

She is competing against fellow former transplant patients in the annual games and hoping to strike gold in no fewer than four events - the mixed volleyball, and the women's shot putt, 3km walk, and 50m backstroke.

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