A transplant patient spoke today of her return to health a year after her father donated a kidney to give her a new lease of life.

Now Viv Baker and dad John say they hope the operation's success will encourage others to consider becoming 'live' donors.

Viv, 28, of Baildon, hit the headlines last August when she received one of her father's healthy kidneys.

She had been having dialysis treatment to keep her alive after her kidneys started failing in 1998 and, though she was put on a transplant waiting list, no donor was found.

Unable to bear seeing her on the dialysis machine, members of Viv's family offered to donate a kidney with her father deciding that as the oldest he should be the one to have the operation.

A year later Viv, who has a ten-year-old son, Gavin, is back in full-time work as an assembly worker at Multi-shades in Baildon.

She is also preparing to marry her partner, Simon Parker, 32, next spring and looking forward to their honeymoon, set to be her first ever foreign holiday.

She said: "I used to feel tired all the time but I look and feel a lot healthier and fitter now.

"The transplant's given me my life back and I can't remember the last time I felt this well.

"The tests show things are going well and although I still have to take medication twice a day it's a lot better than the dialysis.

"It's really hard to explain how I feel about what my dad did for me but I am really grateful because it means I can live normally again.

"If it wasn't for him I'd still be having dialysis three times a week. It's uncomfortable and I wouldn't have been able to come back to work full-time.''

Viv added: "A lot of people say they hadn't known you could live with just one kidney so I'm really hoping people will read this, realise it is safe and does work and come forward to say they're willing to be a donor.''

Mr Baker, 56, a self-employed plumber and joiner who comes from Shipley, but now lives in Hornsea, said: "It's fantastic to see her so well again and I'm over the moon about how well it's worked.

"People say you're brave and, although I am proud of what I did at that stage of the game, I just wanted to do something for her.

"It's changed our lives because whereas we wouldn't even have talked about things like that before, we've all got donor cards now and have said if anything happens to any of us we'd like to donate what we can.

"We don't want people to be frightened of doing something similar and if the doctors can get live donors it's much better because the organ's only out for a very short time and comes from a healthy body.''