9:59am Sunday 15th July 2007
By Helen Crane
Emily Thackray is celebrating a week she thought she might not see.
The 23-year-old from Ewell - who underwent a double lung transplant in January - is one of the star patients publicising National Transplant Week and highlighting the desperate the need for more donor organs.
Emily, a former pupil at Epsom and Ewell High School, was born with cystic fibrosis. In spite of needing 50 tablets a day, relying on a nebuliser and having to have physiotherapy twice a day, she managed to live an ordinary life until she was in her late teens.
Her condition then deteriorated and she became increasingly ill - relying on oxygen 24 hours a day.
In 2005 she was given the devastating news that time was running out and she might have only a year or two to live.
With her condition worsening week by week, she survived for two years on the transplant waiting list until, on January 4 this year, she received the phone call from Harefield Hospital which would give her the reprieve she dreamed of.
The complex operation took nine hours and left her critically ill and fighting for life as her new lungs failed to work properly.
Her wound became infected and her kidneys were shutting down. Emily's family prepared for the worse, but gradually she turned a corner.
After a long period of recovery and rehabilitation Emily is enjoying life again.
"I am alive and I can breathe," she said.
"This morning I went to the gym and managed an hour workout without an oxygen cylinder. Someone gave me the gift of life and I am determined to get strong and make the most of it."
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