A young woman with every reason to wallow in self-pity is encouraging people to be positive and smile in the face of illness.

Jessica Taylor, of Woodside Green, Cliffe Woods, has ME, osteoporosis and epilepsy. Last week she suffered a two-hour seizure and was admitted to Medway Maritime Hospital’s intensive care unit.

Two years ago, she set up her own charity, Share A Star, to brighten the lives of severely unwell children by sending them personalised stars.

Watch: Why Jessica started #smileforasmile

In her latest venture to spread joy to others she has started an online selfie trend, following in the popularity of no-make-up selfies and ice-bucket challenges but an idea that makes people feel good about themselves.

She said: “Smile For A Smile is about promoting smiles for people who are unwell, either medically, psychiatrically or just generally not feeling great.

“It is essential when you’re seriously unwell to have a smile on your face." - Jessica Taylor

“It’s about having a selfie with a smile and posting it on social media using the hashtag.

“I turned 24 and knew I wasn’t getting to do a lot of the things I wanted to do and it brought me down, but I have a really positive outlook and it’s always helped me.

“The effect of the seizure on myself and my family was quite huge, though, so I wanted to do something to turn that negative into a positive.

“It is essential when you’re seriously unwell to have a smile on your face and try to start each day with a smile, despite what is going on in your body and within yourself.

“I want to change the image of what being ill is and help others to feel like there are people on your side, that they are with you and not against you.”

The idea is to pass the smile on to brighten other people’s days and to tag people and show them that they are appreciated.

So far the #smileforasmile campaign has reached more than 40,000 people across Facebook and Twitter.

Jessica is now home and waiting to see a neurologist to get her epilepsy under control before she can have an operation to remove kidney stones.

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