IN APRIL 1997, Cathy Falcus had two weeks to live.

Seventeen years later and thanks to an organ donor whose name had remained a mystery, she now has a four-year-old son and a life she never would have had.

At the time of her transplant, having been treated for chronic active hepatitis, she was seriously ill, had yellowed skin and was sleeping about 20 hours a day.

But a liver from an organ donor gave Grove resident Mrs Falcus a new chance of life.

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It was only after the procedure that doctors told the then 23-year-old she had been two weeks from death.

Now 41 and mum to Bayley, Mrs Falcus said: “I’ve had 17 years of life I would never have had. I have a little boy who’s four and my parents have a grandson.

“I have had another life, I’ve been so lucky.”

She had been treated for about three years and went on the register for a donation when the condition reached its most severe state.

After only a 48-hour wait for a donor Mrs Falcus was transferred from Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for her transplant operation.

It was successful but after the procedure she was diagnosed with Wilson’s disease, which prevents the body from processing copper properly.

She was also told it would be impossible for her to have children naturally and too dangerous to conceive through IVF.

But after her second IVF attempt she gave birth to her son Bayley in 2010.

She said: “They did tell me I wouldn’t be able to have children but I got to the point where I wanted to try.

“They didn’t know how a liver transplantee’s body would react to the IVF drugs so it was a bit of a risk.”

Mrs Falcus, who is an administrator at Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Harwell, has never made contact with the family of her mystery life-saver but feels the time is right. She plans to write to NHS bosses to request that her heartfelt thanks be passed on.

She said: “I was told that my liver was from a male and was flown by helicopter from Ireland. If I want to, I can write a letter to the family, which I’m planning to do in January.

“I wanted to do it on the first anniversary of the transplant but it was too raw, they would have still been grieving.

“But I want them to know how precious their gift was.”

REGISTERING COULD MEAN EVERYTHING

The Oxford Mail is asking you to give someone the most precious of gifts this Christmas.
Your help could save the life of one of any of the 51 people in the county waiting for a donor.

We are backing the Life Saver campaign to get more people to sign up to become organ donors, after it was revealed less than half the people of Oxfordshire are registered donors.

The organ donor register is free to join online, on the phone, or by text. Visit organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or text save to 62323.

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