Join organ register and 'keep a family together'

Natalie Kerr said she was "so very thankful to my donor for keeping me here with my children".

A mother-of-two who had a double lung transplant 12 years ago has urged people to join the organ donor register to "keep a family together for longer, just like mine".

Natalie Kerr, from Adlington near Chorley in Lancashire, had the transplant after being diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension following the birth of her daughter.

The 42-year-old said she had been able to watch her children Isabelle and Brandon grow up after fearing she "wasn't going to be here to see all the milestones".

The former Royal Bolton Hospital nurse said: "If you want to donate it just takes seconds to register your wishes. Just think how amazing it could be to save someone’s life when you have gone."

Heart scans

Natalie said she first knew something was wrong when she started to become short of breath.

"At first it was subtle if I had been walking too fast," she told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"Then it started to get worse and I started collapsing because I just couldn’t get my breath.

"In 2007 I was pregnant with my little girl and at this point my breath got even worse.

"My lips would be blue, I couldn’t walk up the stairs to the ward. I went into labour at 33 weeks in the hospital’s maternity ward and because my oxygen levels were so low I was sent for heart scans during labour."

They revealed she had pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disease where blood vessels become narrower over time.

'Blessed'

It was at this point Natalie was told she only had a few years to live.

She was place on the transplant list in October 2011.

Thankfully, on 16 February 2012, she received a phone call, saying some lungs were available.

"I can’t put into words what the transplant means, even 12 years later," she said.

"It’s so amazing to still be here with my children, who are now aged 22 and 16."

"I am so very thankful to my donor, who was on the register, for keeping me here with my children.

“I feel so blessed to have had all this extra time - my donor gave me a future I didn’t think I had."