A teenager waiting for a lung transplant is pleading with Keighley News readers to carry an organ donor card and give her the chance of life.

Katherine Ireland, who has battled against cystic fibrosis since she was a five-month-old baby, was told a year ago that she had only 18 months to live.

Only a successful transplant could give her several more years. Now the Keighley News is backing her family's efforts to try to find a suitable donor which could save her life.

Katherine, of Meadowcroft, Cononley, a former South Craven School pupil, has seen two of her close friends die in the last few weeks from the same illness. They were both on a waiting for transplant operations.

Katherine's health has deteriorated recently and her lungs are operating at about 36 per cent of their capacity. She says she can feel the infection growing on her lungs. "I have lost two very good friends and I am feeling very depressed," she says. "It's difficult watching your friends die one by one. You can't help thinking that next time it could be you."

She has been waiting for a transplant since October and carries a bleeper that will go off if the hospital finds a lung match for her. An ambulance will pick her up and take her straight to Newcastle's Freemans Hospital where the surgery will take place.

In an effort to swell the register and find a suitable donor, Katherine and her parents will give out organ donor leaflets at the Keighley Cougars game at Cougar Park on Sunday.

Mum Jan says: "Time is running out and we have to do something. It is not that we wish anyone any harm but there's not only Katherine to think of. There are hundreds of others waiting for organ transplants which could save their lives. All we ask is for people to join the register. It will take them only a few minutes to fill in the form."

Katherine, a cadet warrant officer in the Air Cadets, has to undergo a daily regime of treatment including physiotherapy. "If I was healthy enough and could have donated anything that would have saved the lives of my friends, Clare and Renata, then I would have done," she says.

Keighley Cougars chairman Howard Carter says the club will help in any way possible. "There will be a lot of people here on Sunday so hopefully they can sign a few up," he says.

If you want to help, you can ring Jan or Katherine on 635471 or 0411 099917 and they will deliver a form and a donor card to you. All forms can be returned freepost. Alternatively, you can pick up a form from your local doctor or post office.

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