I’d planned my funeral... but I got my life back
Lung transplant saves Lynette, 22
THIS time last year Lynette Armitage was planning her own funeral.
But now the 22-year- old is hoping to get married and have children after undergoing a double lung transplant.
Throughout her life the cystic fibrosis sufferer has been plagued with breathing problems and infections.
When swine flu nearly killed her in 2011 she relied on oxygen from a cylinder 24 hours a day and had to be fed through a tube to stop her weight falling below eight stone.
‘Things were so bad I was planning my funeral,’ said Miss Armitage, of Fallin, Stirlingshire. ‘All I could do was lie in bed – anything more was too much to cope with.’
Miss Armitage was placed on the donation register in September 2012 but it was 14 months before a suitable match became available.
On December 5 last year she went to Newcastle for the operation that saved her life. She said: ‘Just a few months ago I was thinking about dying. Now I could get married, have kids. I can really live.’
Determined to make the most of her second chance of life, Miss Armitage knows there are no guarantees in terms of how long her present good health will last.
She said: ‘They say most people get 15 years after a transplant like this, but you could live for five minutes, seven weeks, ten years – it all depends on how good the lungs are and how well your body takes to them. I know people who are now 35 years post-transplant, so my attitude is you’ve got to hope for the best and make the most of every moment you’ve got.’
The future looks much brighter for Miss Armitage, but she is keeping her fingers crossed for her friend Lisa Hertwig from Alloa, Clackmannanshire, who is waiting for her transplant call.
Miss Armitage said: ‘Luckily Lisa is not as ill as I was when I was at my worst, but the sooner she can get this transplant the better.’
A total of 2,110,881 people living in Scotland have made their organ donation wishes known by joining the UK Organ Donor Register. This means 40 per cent of the population north of the Border have registered, compared to the UK average of 32 per cent.
Miss Armitage said: ‘For anyone out there who isn’t a registered donor, I would say, “Why have you not done it yet?”
‘I would urge everyone to do it. It’s given me back my life.’