ZOE Armstrong's life started falling apart one day last February.

The 35-year-old Horwich mother of two had popped into Tesco at Middlebrook when she collapsed in the store's entrance.

She woke up confused, groggy and in the recovery position with staff and store managers wrapping her up with layers of blankets.

At the Royal Bolton Hospital, she was given tests "and all sorts of weird results were coming back," she recalls.

She had had a lingering chest infection since Christmas and problems with weight gain, migraine, palpitations and panic attacks over a couple of years. But her GP had put most of these down to "stress", and advised her to join WeightWatchers.

Hours later and after several tests, a senior doctor told Zoe she was a "bit of a puzzler", that her results were "odd" and that her heart was a funny shape, enlarged on the right side.

An appointment with a cardiologist was arranged.

Zoe said: "During the next seven weeks, I was sent for loads more hospital tests, x-rays and scans. Meanwhile, each week I was feeling more fatigued, frighteningly breathless and my stomach, legs and feet became swollen red and puffy."

Still without an official diagnosis, Zoe's symptoms were so severe she had to give up her job in sales.

"I couldn't even walk up a slight incline to take my boys to school. This was getting really serious. I was so frightened," she said.

When Zoe went for an MRI scan, a cardiology consultant told her she would be transferred to the care of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and, for the first time, mentioned her condition: Pulmonary Hypertension.

"Google didn't give me good news," she said. "In fact, reading up on it was nothing short of horrific There was no cure. I was dying. But I was only 34. I'm a mummy. I'm not a bad person — what did I do to deserve this?"

By the time the appointment arrived for the specialist Sheffield hospital, Zoe's husband Dave had also had to give up his job to look after Zoe and their sons, Lucas and Dom, aged nine and six.

Pulmonary Hypertension is a relatively rare disease involving raised blood pressure within the pulmonary arteries which makes the heart work less efficiently. At the Royal Hallamshire, Zoe was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Hypertension — stemming from no known cause and the rarest form.

In June, she started vasodilation therapy which opens up blood vessels. She has a permanent Hickman line into her chest delivering intravenous medication 24/7 direct to her heart from a bag on her side. She also takes up to 15 tablets a day.

In the next few months, she will need a wheelchair and possibly oxygen. Only a double lung transplant can now save her and she is on the transplant register.

In spite of everything, Zoe remains upbeat, stating: "I refuse to let this illness control me."

She has become a staunch promoter of organ donation and says: "If only people knew what it meant to individual families, the hope it gave, I'm sure more people would agree to donate."

Dr Colin Mercer, clinical director for governance and safety at NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "Around 10,000 people across the UK are currently in need of an organ transplant so more donors are needed. An organ transplant can dramatically improve and even save the life of someone who is seriously ill."

nThe Bolton News' campaign Sign Up To Save Lives aims to improve organ donation. Go to the NHS organ donor register at organdonation.nhs.uk call 0300 1232323 or text SAVE to 62323.