KIRSTY GEDDES owes her life to an organ donor ...
and she will forever be indebted for what she calls an 'amazing gift'.
Her life has been completely transformed since she had a double lung transplant in 2009.
"There isn't a single day goes by that I don't think of, and thank, my donor ... not one. That person gave me my life back," she says.
"This person signed a piece of paper and saved me. When I got the call about the transplant in November 2009, the day after my birthday, I said that nothing will ever top it. It's an amazing gift."
And that is why she is backing the Evening Times campaign to change the organ donor law.
Kirsty, 28, a make-up artist, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was just nine months.
Cystic Fibrosis is one of the UK's most common life-threatening inherited diseases and affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system.
She says: "I was fortunate Cystic Fibrosis didn't get its claws into me, so to speak, until my teenage years.
"It is a very slow progressive illness, so you don't realise how much is taken away from you until you can no longer walk or you have to completely rely on people. From 24 onwards my life was not my own anymore, it was taken by Cystic Fibrosis."
In 2007, Kirsty, who lives in Glenboig, Lanarkshire, with boyfriend, Dougie Harvey, 27, had a massive lung collapse, followed by two more.
"That's when I was told the transplant needed to happen," she says.
She spent eight months on the transplant list and required oxygen and a ventilator at night.
"The eight months passed in a blur. You have to put life on hold, you have no choice in that, but I always stayed positive.
" My mum used to say 'If you give up I'm going to kill you'," she says with a laugh.
Kirsty says she backs any campaign that raises awareness about organ donation.
She adds: "People have to think about it and talk about it. Some people can be quite superstitious and feel like they're tempting fate, but it's so important to discuss your wishes with your family and it's something that has to be made the norm."
Her lung transplant has given her a second chance at life.
Every day I think I have to do something. I push myself a lot more now," she says.
This week, Kirsty made it to the finals of Specsavers' Scottish Spectacle Wearer Of The Year contest and she recently reached the 4409ft summit of Ben Nevis.
"I did that a month ago, which was brilliant and very emotional – I cried a lot going up, it's something I never dreamed I' would be able to do.
"I've also taken part in three 10Ks, even though I hate running! I do it because I can raise awareness and money for charity.
"I said my donor's name while I was doing it, things like 'We have to keep going'. In the run-up to the finish line I'm sobbing my eyes out because I'm so thankful."
"I have so many things to be thankful for and I'm so grateful to have the chance to watch my nieces and nephew – Caitlin, 13; Tamsyn, 11 and six-year-old Joshua – grow up."
l Kirsty is organising a Hollywood glamour charity ball on August 18 at the Radisson Blu hotel in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Patient Fund at Gartnavel Hospital.Tickets from: http://www.etickets.to/buy/?e=8067