A Radcliffe churchgoer has an extra special reason to look forward to Christmas Day tomorrow - because she thought she would not be alive to enjoy it.

Joyce Herdson, of Irwell Street, underwent a lifesaving double lung transplant operation lasting 13 hours which has given her a new lease of life.

The 51-year-old mother-of-two had been diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a rare and incurable condition which causes scarring of the lungs.

She was given between two-and-a-half and five years to live in October 2012.

But talking, eating and walking soon became difficult and as Joyce deteriorated she was attached to oxygen 24 hours a day and used a wheelchair.

But, after joining the transplant waiting list in March last year, Joyce’s life-saving call came on New Year’s Day.

After the operation, she remained in intensive care until the end of January and came home this February.

Had Joyce not had the transplant when she did, experts said she would not have had another opportunity to undergo the surgery and would not have survived much longer.

Joyce, who is an authorised lay minister at St Andrew’s Church in Radcliffe, said: “I thought last Christmas would be my last, as I was so poorly and had been on the transplant list for almost a year without a single call.

“There are so many people waiting on the transplant list, and people are dying because there are not enough organs available.

“For families in their darkest hour to bring so much light into another life by giving that gift of life is incredible.

“All my friends and family were praying for a Christmas Day miracle. By going on the Organ Donation Register, we truly do have the opportunity to be the answer to someone else’s prayer.”

Joyce’s sons Lewis, aged 21 and Luke, aged 18, both celebrated landmark birthdays this year, which their mother did not think she would be alive to see.

With help from them, her husband Colin, and friends and family, she is gradually regaining her strength and said being able to breathe unaided again is “amazing”.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis makes sufferers’ lungs dry and brittle, so they cannot take in the oxygen they need. In the UK the average survival rate is three years.

Across Greater Manchester 415 people are currently on the transplant list and 24 patients have died while waiting this year.

But 171 patients in the region received a transplant in 2014, thanks to families agreeing to donate a loved one’s organs.

This December, NHS Blood and Transplant has launched a ‘Christmas List’ campaign urging people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

To join the register: go to organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or text SAVE to 62323.