Miracle girl Kaylee Davidson - Britain's youngest heart transplant patient - celebrates her 18th birthday today.

Kaylee made medical history in 1987 when, aged just five months, she underwent a life-saving heart swap.

She suffered from a viral condition called cardiomyopathy which destroys the heart muscle, and would have died without the operation.

Yesterday the fit and healthy teenager said she hoped her story would inspire others to become organ donors and save lives.

She is studying for a VTec in the performing arts and dance at Shiney Row College, near Sunderland, and says her life couldn't be better. Kaylee is also preparing to represent Great Britain in the summer's World Transplant Games in Canada.

She said: "I am living proof that people can make a difference by becoming an organ donor.

"I was only five months old when I had my transplant, just a tiny baby and I wasn't given much chance.

"But the surgeons were amazing and I was lucky enough to grow stronger and stronger.

"Now I lead a completely normal life, I am healthy and I really couldn't be happier.

"I take four tablets a day - anti rejection drugs and something to control my blood pressure, but other than that no one would know what I had been through.

"I love dancing but don't think it will be my career, I'd really like to become a beauty therapist.

"I grew up with the feeling that I was special and I do feel lucky to be alive.

"I often think about my donor family and can't thank them enough for the second chance I was given to live.

"I first became aware of my new heart when I was about four years old.

"I remember standing in front of the mirror and looking at the scar on my chest and wondering for the first time why it was there.

"I asked my mam and she explained to me that I had been given someone else's heart to help me live.

"It's strange how quickly I accepted that was the case and just got on with my life, it was everyone else who told me I was special.

"If anyone is thinking about becoming a donor I hope they will see me as some kind of inspiration. I have a wonderful life but I would have died if it hadn't been for someone's else's kindness."

Her mother Carol, 37, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, said: "It only seems like yesterday that all that happened.

"We were so desperately worried when she was so poorly and really there was very little hope she would survive.

"The doctors at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle performed what at the time seemed like a miracle.

"She was so tiny, it seemed impossible she could come through such major surgery and the whole world was watching.

"To get her back and see her flourish into the lovely, healthy teenager she has become has been amazing.

"Kaylee is a fantastic example of life after transplantation and we will be eternally grateful to the donor family who acted decisively at a tragic time in their own lives.

"Donor families are very special people - they give people like Kaylee a second chance.

"We hope that her courage and her vibrant personality will spur people to talk about organ donation with their families and register on the NHS Donor Register.

"It can happen to anyone, we were an ordinary family who had something extraordinary happen to us."

Since Kaylee's pioneering operation the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle has performed 130 heart and lung transplants on babies and children.