A PICKMERE teenager who spent months recovering from a potentially life-threatening illness is to study at one of the world's top universities.

Rachel Kean, of Mere Close, has been offered the chance of a place at Harvard University, allowing her to fulfil one of her lifetime ambitions.

The 17-year-old is one of just 5,000 students from across the globe chosen for the university's summer school at the campus near the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Seven American presidents and more than 40 Nobel Prize winners have studied at Harvard.

Rachel said: "It is such a fantastic opportunity. It has an amazing reputation and I'm really excited about the whole experience."

She said the trip was a dream come true and added: "I feel it will really help me to grow as a person. I've had a lot to deal with and this is a great reward."

Rachel was diagnosed with pancreatitis two years ago when she was studying for her GCSEs and doctors removed her gall bladder.

She missed two years of school but after resitting her final year at Withington Girls' School and finishing her exams last week Rachel said she is ready for her next challenge.

She said: "To have a life-threatening illness at 15 makes you reassess your life. I appreciate what I have more and am determined to experience lots of different things."

For the next two months Rachel will study philosophy and psychology, earning undergraduate college credits and she hopes to return to Harvard - or another American university - in the future either as an undergraduate or postgraduate.

She added: "I love the American culture and American people."