Organ donor gave me new chance at life

Three decades on, Lucy wants to raise awareness of signing up to register

- JAMES HOLT

LUCY was just a young child when she recalls being rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Her young life was saved by an ‘incredible family’ who enabled her to undergo an organ donation procedure.

Now aged 34, she was given a miraculous second chance at life after receiving a heart transplant as a young tot. She has since travelled the world and is fulfilling her dreams at university.

The student, who works and studies in Salford, has opened up about her transplant experience for Organ Donation Week, with a drive launched to encourage more people to sign up to the programme. Currently, there are more than 850 people waiting for a transplant in the North West alone.

The NHS Organ Donor Register has been helping to save lives for three decades. Since its creation in 1994, more than 100,000 people have had their lives saved, including almost 11,000 in the North West of England and 4,700 in Greater Manchester.

But a new drive has been launched encouraging people to register their decision to donate their organs after death, with the waiting list for a transplant in the UK now higher than ever before.

Lucy had her life saved by a heart transplant when she was just a baby, and she was rushed to hospital for the major procedure.

Thirty-one years later, she works and studies at Salford University, and is ‘fit and well’, entering her third year of a Theatre and Performance Practice undergrad course. She has also travelled the world and competed in the British and World Transplant Games.