A SCHOOLGIRL who underwent life-changing open heart surgery has won the lead role of Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Margaux Barker, 11, from Tadcaster Road, York, started secondary school in September and continues to defy the odds after having life-saving surgery in Leeds aged just three.

The aspiring actress was given a clean bill of health after the operation and continues to go from strength to strength, living a normal life as a healthy young girl.

She featured alongside Berwick Kaler in the Old Mother Goose pantomime three years ago and has now followed that success up with a role in York’s NEMusicals’ production of CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, at the city's Joseph Rowntree Theatre, starting next week.