A NORTH-EAST mother who feared she would never see her son grow up will tomorrow celebrate the tenth anniversary of a double lung transplant which has transformed her life.

Ten years ago, Vicki Pettersen, from New Marske, Redcar, east Cleveland, was desperately ill with cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition which clogs the lungs and usually shortens the lives of sufferers.

But thanks to her double lung transplant in 1999, Mrs Pettersen has been able to enjoy life.

“I had hoped that a transplant might give me the chance of a better life. I now realise that it was the chance of having a normal life,” she said.

Mrs Pettersen, who has a husband, Erik, and son, Antony, 15, is hoping that her story will encourage other cystic fibrosis sufferers to consider a transplant.

“The last six months before my transplant, I had a very poor quality of life, but I can do anything I want now,” she said.

Mrs Pettersen battled against cystic fibrosis after being diagnosed when she was three.

A cross-country runner at school, she continued to run because it helped to clear the sticky mucus from her airways caused by the condition.

“I used to run up and down stairs 50 times a day to open up the small airways in my lungs,” said Mrs Pettersen.

Even on the morning of her wedding, she ran five miles on an exercise track to stop her from being breathless during the ceremony.

But her condition gradually deteriorated until she was virtually housebound.

She eventually got the call at 5.50pm on April 7 and was rushed to the Freeman Hospital transplant centre, in Newcastle.

The operation, to transplant lungs donated by a woman from Wigan, Lancashire, took seven and a half hours. Nineteen days later, she was able to go home.

“You forget how bad it was,” she said. “I used to have physio four or five times a day. When I woke up after my operation, I immediately felt better. It was instant.”

Mrs Pettersen urges everyone to consider donating their organs after their death to help others.

■ The organ donor line can be contacted on 0845-60-60-400 or via uktransplant. org.uk