Transplant student backs donor campaign

Ms Sparke: "I want to live my life as best I can"

A young Cambridgeshire woman has spoken of how her life has been transformed after a double lung transplant.

Sammi Sparke, 23, from Eaton Ford, had been left unable to walk upstairs without gasping for breath because of damage caused by cystic fibrosis.

Last January she told BBC Look East: "I'm not going to be here in a year's time."

But now, one year on, she can go out with friends, take her dog for a walk, and is studying for an Open University degree.

She had a double transplant in August

She said she had been "desperate" when she spoke to the BBC last year.

"I was very unwell."

But she underwent surgery in August, and has been getting better ever since.

Ms Sparke says she is extremely grateful to the anonymous family who agreed to the donation in her case.

"I think about the decision they made every day - it saved my life.

"There's not many ways I can repay them, except by living my life the best I can.

"I'm really making the most of what I've got."

Prolongs life

She urged others to discuss organ donation within their families, and to carry a donor card.

Steven Tsui, a consultant surgeon at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, said fewer people were carrying cards.

"I think it is largely because of the general public not understanding what a transplant can do for these patients who are very ill and dying.

"A successful transplant not only prolongs life, it can actually transform the lives of many of these very sick patients."