The family of a 28-year-old who died while waiting for a lung transplant have urged more people to carry donor cards.

Newlywed Richard James Hall, of Baildon, died of cystic fibrosis on Sunday, less than six months after he was put on the register for a lung transplant.

Now his heartbroken mum Diane and wife Emma are urging others to carry donor cards and make their families aware of their wishes.

Richard met Emma in February 2002 through a mutual friend and the couple soon developed a close relationship. She said he was a wonderful father to her daughter Finlay, five, and was constantly worrying about her, even when he was in hospital.

The couple brought their wedding forward to December last year after it became clear that Richard's health was deteriorating.

Until the very end he was hopeful of finding a donor and kept himself fit so he would be ready for a transplant should it become available.

Richard was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was just two months old, after he failed to thrive as a baby. It is a genetic disease which affects a number of organs in the body, particularly the lungs and the pancreas, by clogging them with thick sticky mucus.

He had family members on both sides with the condition, which is the UK's most common life-threatening inherited disease, affecting 7,500 babies, children and young adults.

As a baby he spent several months in St Luke's Hospital before he was allowed home and had to continue to take drugs to help him digest food, vitamins and antibiotics as well as regular intravenous treatment.

But his mum said that Richard, of Lower Holme, who loved karate as a youngster, never let the condition get him down and did not moan about his frequent trips to the hospital, even when it meant missing school or parties.

Diane, of Plumpton Lea, Wrose, remembers nine-year-old Richard taking part in a charity walk around Swain House Middle School.

Despite being in pain and coughing badly, the determined youngster struggled on to the end. After leaving Hanson School at 16, he found work at Birkleas Nursing Home in Shipley where he looked after young disabled adults.

Richard - nicknamed Dirch by his friends - was well loved, said his mother.

Emma urged people to pick up donor cards from their GP surgery and sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register by calling 0845 6060400 or logging on to www.uktransplant.org.uk.