Sometimes I have to pinch myself to be sure that I am awake and not dreaming – the difference a transplant has made to my life is beyond words.

I was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in about 1990 and it got gradually worse each year with frequent chest infections and chronic breathlessness.

By 2006 a chest specialist looked me very kindly in the eye and explained that the next chest infection would probably be the final one. By then I was in a wheelchair and living on oxygen 24/7, unable to walk more than a few paces at a time and couldn’t do even the most basic things (like washing myself or making a cup of tea ).

All I could try to do was wake up the next morning. The only possibility of having any kind of future was to have a new pair of lungs because without them I was getting closer to death each day.

Getting onto the transplant list isn’t easy as you have to be ill enough to need the operation and strong enough to survive it.

There are very few centres nationally capable of performing such complicated procedures and I was referred to Papworth Hospital near Cambridge where they specialise in lung and heart transplants and fortunate enough to be put onto the waiting list.

As I think most people are aware, there are something like 6,000 people at any time waiting and hoping for a transplant and of these three die each day – the chances of suitable organs being donated are slim. After several false starts (when organs were found to be not suitable for transplant) my transplant took place on March 13, 2008.

I don’t remember much about the operation or the following few days as I was asleep. However my family tell me the operation was 10-plus hours followed by several days in an induced coma in intensive care. Then gradual rehabilitation with lots of exercise and physiotherapy as my muscles had deteriorated so much over the last couple of years. I had a bed by a window where I could see people walking around a small lake and focused on being able to walk around it myself.

Three weeks later I was able to do so – very slowly – a miracle to someone who three weeks previously couldn’t lift a kettle because it was too heavy. I don’t know a lot about my donor but I am so grateful that she had registered as an organ donor and had told her family of her wishes. She was young so her death was unexpected and it must have helped her family knowing what her wishes were.

Her generosity has saved and enhanced many lives – both those who received her organs and their families. I had carried an old fashioned cardboard donor card for many years and knowing that my donor gave the gift of life willingly and freely has made it easier for me to accept it. It took several months to recover fully and to find the right balance of medication. Transplant patients take lots of medication to avoid rejection and so have no immune system so have to be careful about infections, flu etc. I stupidly managed to catch flu twice in the first six months but luckily it was treatable.

Before the operation I was unable to get around and enjoy life – now nothing stops me! I go line-dancing, go to pilates, enjoy taking our labrador for long walks and have had the chance to see my grandchildren grow up. The transplant has literally given me my life and freedom back and every day I am thankful for this wonderful gift.

I’m a 67 year old events decorator and live with my husband, daughter and son-in-law who all helped care for me – they also have their freedom back! My message to people is a simple one – would you accept an organ if it would save your life?

If you would accept an organ you should be prepared to give one – there is no greater legacy you can leave than giving someone life.

TALK TO YOUR FAMILY

Around 10,000 people in the UK are in need of a life-saving or life-changing transplant and three a day die because there aren’t enough donor organs available.

There are 74 people in Oxfordshire waiting for a transplant and 20 Oxfordshire residents have died due to the shortage of organs in the past five years. But while 96 per cent of people say they’d have a transplant if they needed one, according to NHSBT (NHS Blood and Transplant) figures, only about 28 per cent have signed the Organ Donor Register. This equates to more than 19 million people, and is significantly higher than in previous years, thanks to successful awareness campaigns like this week’s National Transplant Week, which runs until Sunday July 14.

However, often – currently in around 45 per cent of cases – registered donors’ organs aren’t being used for transplants when they die, due to their families not agreeing when asked by doctors. The message to families to talk about their wishes to be organ donors is one of the key aims of National Transplant Week.

Sally Johnson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHSBT, said: “Since April, 11 people living in Oxfordshire have benefitted from a life-saving transplant. “To help more people we need everyone, including the 256,220 people on the NHS Organ Donor Register in Oxfordshire, to talk to their loved ones about their donation wishes.

“The number of people waiting for a life-saving transplant would be dramatically reduced if more organs were available. This is why we need people to tell their loved ones they want to be an organ donor so that, should the time come, their decision will be honoured.

“The UK’s family refusal rate remains one of the highest in Europe.”

Another crucial aim of the campaign is greater awareness about the dire shortage of organs and its human impact. Most people on the waiting list have long-term illnesses. Sometimes, a transplant might be their only chance of a quality of life – for somebody on kidney dialysis, for instance – or it could be their only hope of surviving to adulthood.

For more information on National Transplant Week or to join the Organ Donor Register, visit www.transplantweek.co.uk, call 0300 123 2323 or text DONATE to 62323.