A Clayhall grandmother praised the NHS after being given a “second chance at life” through a double lung transplant.

Donna Day, 47, plans a charity walk and bike ride to fundraise for King George Hospital in Goodmayes which diagnosed her with emphysema earlier this year.

She was told by doctors she had just a year to live but was on the transplant register for just 17 days when she went under the knife on June 17.

Mrs Day, of Caernarvon Drive, said: “I can’t thank the hospital enough and if I can do something to raise some vital funds, that will be amazing. I’m really going to cherish life now.

“I’m so grateful to all the doctors who helped me. I was looking at death square in the face when I was diagnosed. I was told I had about a year to live, which was really frightening.

“You hear so many horror stories about long waits on the transplant list so I can’t believe how quickly the whole process took for me.”

Mrs Day, who has two daughters and three grandchildren, was diagnosed at King George before being transferred to the specialist Papworth Hospital in Cambridge for the operation.

Her first check-up came back clear and, though she needs to watch out for the organ being rejected, she plans to fundraise for both hospitals.

She said: “Along with the rest of the family, I’m going to raise as much money as possible for both of them.”