TWENTY five years ago today courageous Teresa Driver under went a vital kidney transplant that completely transformed her life.

The-39-year-old, of Waldringfield, near Ipswich, is using the landmark anniversary to urge others to sign up and become donors.

She spent much of her childhood in and out of hospitals after suffering from renal failure in both her kidneys.

After waiting for six months on the transplant list she received a new organ and has not looked back since.

Mrs Driver, of Newbourne Road, who is studying to become a veterinary nurse, said: “You should have to opt out rather than sign in. It is so important that everyone should have the chance to have a transplant.

“It has changed my life. I have been able to do so much that otherwise I wouldn’t have had the chance to do.”

Mrs Driver, who has been married to Shaun for nearly 18 years, first fell ill when she was six.

Doctors originally thought she had an allergy and she was in and out of Ipswich Hospital and then Great Ormond Street Hospital - where they diagnosed a failure of her kidneys - for a number of years.

She was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead for a transplant on April 18, 1986, at the age of 13.

Mrs Driver, who still has to go for regular check ups at Ipswich Hospital, said she would like to thank everyone for their support over the years - especially her parents Maureen and Bob Sedgwick and her sisters Angela and Rachel.

“Without them I just couldn’t have done it,” she said. “The staff at all the hospitals have also been fantastic. I would like to say a huge ‘thank-you’ to them all.”

For more details visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/default.jsp.