Helen Miller, 38, was given weeks to live by baffled medical experts when she was struck down by an ultra-rare auto-immune disease in her teens.

This week the Guardian highlights the desperate need for life-saving donors who can give people in Helen's position a prolonged and healthier life.

The self-confessed strong-willed South Anston resident, battled to regain a normal life after months being hospitalised at just 16.

She climbed the career ladder, married and defied doctors' predictions by becoming a mum-of-two.

But when Helen began feeling out of breath five or six years ago, specialist tests showed the full extent of her illness and the need for a transplant.

"Since then I have gradually deteriorated," she said. "As soon as I get up I'm out of breath. It's like climbing Mount Everest every day of my life."

Increasingly housebound, everyday tasks have become exhausting for Helen, who has been on the transplant waiting list for close to a year now.

"You have to be well enough to have the operation but poorly enough to need it," said Helen, whose place on the list was only confirmed after several strenuous trips to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

"Every day I am waiting for that phone call to say a donor has come through. And it's such a long, long wait and it's like living on a knife-edge all the time."

"I can't even brush my hair or wash it, everything is such a struggle now."

Husband John, a 43-year-old landscape gardener, works locally so he can check on Helen at their Hawthorne Avenue home several times a day.

Mum Pat Eaton, 62, helps care for her during the day and children Abbie, 18, and 15-year-old Daniel help out at the weekends.

"It's hard for John and the kids," she said. "They can see me just fading away, losing weight and not being able to get up."

"So it's difficult to get across to them when I'm actually feeling okay inside some days."

"I was in hospital two weeks ago and they were all hoping and praying that I would come out. I'm strong and try to stay positive about it, and I think if I wasn't then I might not even be here now."

"It's all about your mental attitude and how you want to live life," added Helen, who is just two assignments away from completing a Cert Ed teaching qualification at RCAT in Dinnington.

"That's been purely something to take my mind off everything. I just want to get a normal life back and work and be a wife and mum."

"I keep thinking 'when' I've had my transplant, not 'if'."

Helen, whose working life saw her go from working in a call centre to being a training manager at Abbey National, says everyone has the opportunity to help by signing up to become a donor.

And she supports the Government's opt-out proposal, where people who do not wish their organs to be donated would have to make it known - not the other way around.

"I would like everyone to make a difference," she said.