TWO years ago, life for Penny Hart seemed bleak.

Severe lung disease had left the 64-year-old, from Swerford, near Chipping Norton, wheelchair bound, hooked up to oxygen 24 hours a day and unable to even wash herself.

But thanks to a double lung transplant, the grandmother-of-nine was given a new lease of life, and she is determined to make the most of it.

According to the NHS Blood and Transplant Service, which collects, tests, processes, stores and delivers blood and organs, hundreds of Oxfordshire people are waiting for a transplant.

Mrs Hart is now encouraging people to sign up to donate organs, and give those people a fighting chance.

She said: “I was diagnosed with emphysema about 25 years ago and gradually it got worse and worse.

“Both my parents were smokers and had lung problems, and as a child I grew up in a smoky house.

“Stupidly, when I grew up I also started smoking. I gave up smoking as soon as I was diagnosed but by then the damage was done.

“I couldn’t walk more than three or four steps without having to stop and have a rest, and I could barely find the energy to wash, or even make a cup of tea. Both of my lungs were absolutely ruined.”

Mrs Hart spent 18 months on a waiting list for a lung transplant before a donor was found, but since then her life has been turned around.

She added: “Things have changed so much for me. The other day my daughter Lucinda and I walked four and half miles around Blenheim Park. That would never have been possible before.”

This month the NHS Blood and Transplant Service launched a nationwide appeal for more donors.

Mrs Hart added: “I don’t know what I’d say to the family of the person who gave me this chance. How do you thank someone for giving you a future again?”

Lynda Hamlyn, chief executive of the service, said: “More transplants were carried out last year than ever before, but the need for organs never stops. If you believe in organ donation, please register today and let those closest to you know that you have done so.”

For details about signing up, log on to uktransplant.org.uk or call 0845 6060400