A SOUTHAMPTON nurse who cared for heart transplant patients and had a new heart herself has backed a campaign to get more people onto the organ donor register.

Lesley Burch was leading a fit and healthy lifestyle before she fell ill one day with a virus.

She had been working as a practice nurse at Raymond Road surgery but was so unwell that when she arrived at Southampton General Hospital her heart was only working at 10 per cent capacity.

Ten weeks later and she was at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge waiting to have a heart transplant.

Now she has backed our seven-week Seven Weeks to Say I Donate campaign to get people onto the organ donor register.

For the past three weeks we have been trying to get more people onto the organ donor register

Last week we smashed our target on 2,000 people but we still want people to come forward and tell their families about their decision.

The 56-year old from Nursling described how close to death she was.

"The first five days I was in hospital in intensive care. My family were told to expect the worst.

"I was so lucky I was a three-day gym person before I went into hospital. I had everything going for me," she said.

Although she gets breathless Lesley isn't concerned about her health since her operation.

She volunteers as a driver for Romsey Good Neighbours, taking people to hospital, but maintains an active life.

"I lead an incredibly normal life now, it doesn't stop me doing much," she said.

Lesley's sudden deterioration and subsequent transplant has led to her husband Keith and her youngest daughter Victoria changing their minds about organ donation.

She got in touch with the Daily Echo after she read about fellow transplant recover Trevor Jackson when he backed our campaign.

“I’m just so delighted to know that he's doing well,” she said. “For me it was just a revelation to see him. I thought ‘I need to let him know that the nurse who treated ended up with a heart transplant too.’”

Trevor, 67, from Romsey, was glad to see that she had been recovering well too.

He said it was a quirk of fate to have been contacted by her.

He said: “It was a total surprise, especially when she said she’d had a heart transplant too.

“She’s gone through the same things I went through years ago. She’s quite relieved to have been able to talk to someone who had had the same sort of thing.

“It’s great to see that she’s doing well.”

To sign up to the organ donor register and for further information visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.