WHEN Joan Whitney suffered a heart attack in 1996, it was a bolt from the blue. She was 58 and had always led a healthy lifestyle, revolving mainly around her love of badminton, a game she's played for more than 30 years.

Worse news was to follow. Just six months after the attack, she was told that she would need a heart transplant to survive.

But Joan isn't the giving-up type. She had the op, continued playing her beloved badminton, and this week returned from the World Transplant Games in Japan with bronze medals in the ladies singles and doubles events tucked away in her suitcase.

It was the social side of badminton that first got Joan hooked. "It is good for you physically and is just good fun as well," she says.

Joan had always made sure she ate a good diet and exercised by playing badminton and walking with husband John in the picturesque hills surrounding their home in Guisborough, east Cleveland, so she didn't consider herself to be a classic heart attack victim when she was struck five years ago.

"It was very scary and it devastated me, but I was just unlucky. It must be in my genes; my father had a heart attack and my mother suffered from heart disease, but I never thought I would be susceptible because I had such a healthy lifestyle," she says.

Although she initially appeared to be recovering well from the heart attack, her heart began to fail because of damage to the muscles. Surgeons at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle told her she needed a transplant and she had the life-saving surgery three weeks later.

"It was very scary but quick and I was lucky," she says. Three days after the surgery, she was taken to the gym to start the exercise regime that is considered crucial to recovery.

Joan's heart donor was a 44-year-old mother of three children and Joan will always be grateful that she was given a second chance at life. But with the recent organ scandals at Bristol and Alder Hey, organ donations and the number of transplant operations have taken a dramatic slide.

Naturally enough, Joan is keen to encourage people to carry donor cards. "I have always been in favour of it and now the whole family carries a card. People get confused between 'organ retention' and 'organ donation.' I think the scandals made people think the organs were being used for the wrong reasons, but organ donation saves lives. The public needs re-educating."

After the operation, it was some time before Joan picked up her badminton racquet again and she needed lots of encouragement from John. "I was a bit nervous. I didn't know whether I would have the agility to move about and I didn't want to push myself," she says.

Then she was told that the British Transplant Games were taking place in Thornaby, and was persuaded to enter. She walked away with gold and silver medals and has never looked back. Successes in Gateshead and Leeds followed and she was asked to represent the country in Japan.

"I have been overwhelmed by it all," says Joan. "The Japanese people were very friendly and they appreciated why we were there - there were people there from all walks of life. It was like a mini Olympics and walking behind the flag was very special."

Now it's back to the practice courts to prepare for the European championships in Austria, the British Championships in Loughborough and the next world games in France. She also finds plenty of time for her growing family; since her transplant, she has seen three grandchildren join the two she already had.

"I'm here because of the clever people at the Freeman, Dr Barnard and my donor," she says gratefully. "I never thought in a million years I would need a transplant, but I am living proof it's a success.