WHEN Lorna Cooper went to her GP after a holiday in Majorca left her tired and breathless he diagnosed a chest infection.

WHEN Lorna Cooper went to her GP after a holiday in Majorca left her tired and breathless he diagnosed a chest infection.

But after three more visits, the mother-of-three was finally sent to hospital - where she was told if she had not been treated she could have died within the week.

She was diagnosed with a form of the serious heart condition cardiomyopathy, which had caused her heart to enlarge and pump less strongly.

It had swollen to twice its normal size and because it was not working properly her lungs had filled with fluid.

Within minutes of having an X-ray at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, she was rushed to a ward and given an oxygen mask.

Lorna said: "It's not something you expect a few days after your birthday. I was slipping in and out of consciousness."

Drugs improved her condition enough for her to go home in less than a week to children - Ayla, 14, Jamie, 13 and Kyle, 2 - and she then began the battle to recovery.

Doctors do not know what caused her to develop the illness and she was fitted with a special pacemaker at Glasgow Royal Infirmary that will shock her heart if it goes into a life-threatening rhythm.

It is hoped this will mean the 31-year-old will not need a transplant.

Lorna was off work for a year, but is now back at Asda, Linwood, where she has switched from being a check-out operator to a personnel clerk.

She said: "I'm feeling pretty good. Since I got the pacemaker I have got better and better."

Lorna, of Paisley, will meet others with the condition at a Cardiomyopathy Association information day at the Hilton Grosvenor Hotel in Glasgow's West End on Saturday .

It is open to everyone affected by the condition, including family and friends.

For more information, call the Cardiomy- opathy Association on 0800 018 1024, e-mail info@cardiomyopathy.org or see the website: www.cardiomyopathy.org