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THOUGH it was almost 13 years ago, Sara Griffiths remembers the telephone call she that gave her back her life.

At 5am on May 31 1995, an organ transplant co-ordinator told her a kidney had been found for her much-needed transplant.

Now she is backing a multi-charity campaign to bridge the gap between the amount of organs donated and the people waiting for suitable donor organs, by encouraging people in Wales to tell their loved ones they want to donate their organs when they die.

The Donate Wales - Tell A Loved One campaign, led by the Kidney Wales Foundation, sees nine leading charities joining forces to try to tackle the donor shortage.

It is the first time there has been a Wales-only organ donation campaign, following Assembly funding.

For Sara Griffiths, the campaign is vital, especially since she also had a pancreas transplant in 2006.

Diagnosed with diabetes aged 12, Mrs Griffiths, who lives in Raglan, suffered kidney damage and aged 27 she needed dialysis three times a week.

It was 1992 and she was working for the BBC, on shows such as Top of the Pops. Three years later she was struggling with worsening health.

"I'd been on dialysis for three-and-a-half years but it felt like 30. My energy and motivation to get through it had completely evaporated," she said. Then came the call.

"It was May 31 1995, 5am. By then I was physically very weak. I felt so drained there were moments when I couldn't even brush my hair."

The kidney transplant transformed her life. More than a decade later, after moving from London to Raglan, she had her pancreas transplant and no longer depends on insulin injections.

"I thank my donors every day because without their gift I would have no life.

"Two people were kind enough to want to help others when they died. That's why I've been given this chance. There really is no more amazing gift than that."

2:08pm Monday 12th May 2008

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