MUM'S PLEDGE AFTER LIFE-SAVING TRANSPLANT

RADIATING health as she hands her latest medal to her friend, Sue Bennett's gift celebrates the special nature of their bond.

- BY LUCY LAING

For nearly a decade, fellow mum Sharron Jones has welcomed every one of Sue's victories, gratefully accepting each of the nine medals she has picked up for her athletic achievements.

With every win, both are reminded that none of it would be possible had it not been for Sharron's daughter Amy - her only child - who died at just 24 after an epileptic seizure.

It was Amy's liver that saved Sue's life, after 15 years of illness had worn her down and left her on the brink of death.

Speaking to mark National Transplant Week - which ends today and is held to encourage people to sign the donor register - Sue, 51, says: "Every time I go over the finish line, I think of Amy and the gift she's given me.

"To be able to give each medal to Sharron after I finish is a way of saying thank you for that."

Recalling the first one Sue handed her, before they had become friends, Sharron, 56, says: "When she gave me that medal, I cried.

"It was such an amazing thing that she'd achieved - and all because of the gift that Amy had given her."

Sue now competes in international transplant games and athletic events, proudly handing Sharron each medal that she picks up.

The last one was earned in a gruelling Ironman challenge in Wales while she hopes to win a 10th next spring, in a triathlon which she is already training hard for. Yet before her transplant, Sue was clinging to life by a thread.

She had been diagnosed 15 years earlier with a deadly liver condition called primary biliary cholangitis.

Initially doctors were able to manage her symptoms with medication, but her health deteriorated over time.

She recalls: "I lost three stone in weight and suffered with unbearable itching all over my body.