​The Bath sister of a lung transplant patient has spoken of the need for more organ donors.

Abby Thackray, 19, of Lower Bristol Road, was 16 when her older sister Emily needed a double lung transplant.

The Bath Spa University student cared for her sister during her illness and is now urging people to sign up to the NHS organ donor register.

Emily, 25, who lives in Surrey, was born with cystic fibrosis, which affects internal organs by clogging them with thick mucus, making it hard to breathe and digest food.

Throughout her childhood she managed the disease well, but started having problems when she went to university in 2004 to study French and drama.

She became tired, and found it harder to breathe, and it was during this time that she was put on the waiting list for a double lung transplant.

Emily managed to carry on with her studies, although she had to drop French as she was too ill to go on an exchange trip.

By the time she left university three years later her condition had deteriorated.

Abby said: “Emily had no energy and just lay on the sofa. Everything was a struggle for her. She had to use a wheelchair, and was connected to two cylinders of oxygen.”

At one point Emily’s lung collapsed and she was admitted to hospital.

He family were told that she was seriously ill and that they should say their goodbyes.

Along with her parents and sister Lucy, who is now 22, Abby had to prepare for the fact that Emily might die.

Abby said: “My sisters are my best friends and the thought of not having Emily around was awful. When I went in to say goodbye to her, Emily said it wasn’t over yet, and it was this that kept me strong.”

A week later the family got the call they had been waiting for, and she had her transplant.

Abby said: “Being on the transplant list is really all about waiting for that call, and we had one false alarm when they said that Emily was too ill to have the transplant.

“That was a really difficult time because the worry was that she was never going to be well enough. When the call actually came, I had really given up hope so to even get the possibility of a transplant was amazing.”

After the transplant Emily spent three months in hospital before being well enough to be released.

Since then she has taken a full-time job as a primary school teacher, and has married her boyfriend of ten years.

Emily’s donor is never far from the family’s thoughts.

Abby said: “We think about the donor and their family a lot, and I’m very aware that my sister being here today is because of a stranger making such an important decision at a very difficult time.

“Emily gave seeds in her wedding favours to plant in memory of her donor and we also do a balloon release every year on the anniversary of her transplant.”

Abby is fully supportive of the Chronicle’s campaign to encourage more people in the city to sign up to become organ donors.

She said: “It is so important for people to sign up to the organ donor register. If you know someone who is waiting for a transplant, you realise how important it really is.

“People don’t like talking about it, as it is talking about death.

“There is not enough information out there, and there needs to be more.”

While waiting for a transplant, Emily set up Live Life Then Give Life, which aims to improve education and awareness of organ donation.

For more information visit www.lltgl.org.uk.

More than 10,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant and three people a day die before one is available. Only 27 per cent of the population are on the register.

People can sign up to become organ donors by calling 0300 1232323 or visiting www.organdonation.nhs.uk.