FRIENDS can't believe it when they see Wendy and Kim out Christmas shopping.

Laughing and joking in the crowded streets, the sisters are inseparable and full of fun.

But only a month ago Wendy Risbrough, 39, was desperately ill and needed a kidney transplant.

The mother-of-two was so weak from a brain haemorrhage and punishing dialysis sessions that her family feared she might not survive very long on the waiting list for a kidney.

In a desperate bid save her older sister Kim Hebdon, 38, agreed to be tested to see whether she could be a living kidney donor.

To the relief of Wendy's family, doctors at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital found that Kim was a near-perfect tissue match.

On November 5, the Stockton sisters were wheeled into an operating theatre and surgeons performed a five-and-a-half-hour keyhole surgery to transfer one of Kim's healthy organs to her sister.

Within 24 hours, Wendy felt like a new woman and in the past few weeks the two sisters have been enjoying Christmas shopping together.

"It is the best possible Christmas present I could have had," said Wendy.

"Normally with a diabetic patient they expected me to be in the Freeman for up to three weeks and then back to James Cook hospital, in Middlesbrough, for another three or four days but after just 12 days they let me go home," said Wendy, one of six brothers and sisters.

"I felt really good, I was up and dressed really early, I couldn't believe how well I felt," she added.

"I've got a brilliant kidney which makes sense because I've got a brilliant sister," she laughed.

Wendy's biggest fear was that something might happen to her sister.

Wendy said her friends could not believe the change in her.

Kim, who has a 15-year-old daughter, Jade, played down her part in the drama.

"When Wendy was taken ill it was like a black cloud hanging over us, none of us felt we could laugh or smile at anything," she remembers.

"We all wanted Wendy to feel better and not have to be on dialysis.

"It was down to me to provide the kidney because I was a good match," she said.

Kim admits she was frightened before the operation but has no regrets.

"It just makes me feel so good to see the way she is now. There has been such a change in her," she added.

"We are all together now, just like twins," she said.

"The only thing I regret is that they didn't do a tummy tuck when I was out."

A spokesman for UK Transplant said the story of the sisters was inspiring and hoped that it would lead to more living donor transplants.

A total of 683 patients in the North of England need a transplant, including 591 who need a new kidney.

So far this year, 231 patients in the North have received a transplant, including 163 who received a kidney.

For more details ring 0845 60 60 400 or visit www.uktrans plant.nhs.uk