THE CALL THAT SAVED MY LIFE

Charlotte Davies, 30, owes the past 13 years of her life to a stranger

- ALEX MEYER

In the early hours of the morning on an October day in 2011, I woke to the sound of my phone ringing. Half asleep, I could just about make out the words ‘No caller ID’ on the screen and I remember thinking, ‘Who on earth would be ringing at this hour? I’m not going to answer that!’ But as my finger hovered over the ‘decline’ button, I paused. There was only one reason I would be getting a call at this time and it’d be because someone was about to change my life. ‘We have some new lungs for you,’ said the nurse when I finally answered. ‘Do you want them?’

SERIOUS CONDITION I was three weeks old when I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) – an inherited condition that causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system – so you could say my life was complicated from the start.

My condition can cause lung infections and problems with digesting food, so my mum, Sam, became a full-time carer as well as a parent. She had to do physio on me to help clear mucus from my lungs, as well make sure I stuck to my strict regimen of medications, all so I avoided getting an infection.

Despite her efforts, though, I often still needed intravenous antibiotics and was generally severely underweight for my age. To most, this probably seems like a lot for a young child to go through. But for me, it was all I'd ever known – I never questioned anything. But I knew I would never have a normal life.