A WOMAN who has enjoyed a new lease of life since she had a kidney transplant 23 years ago is today calling for a change in the way donors are handled.

A WOMAN who has enjoyed a new lease of life since she had a kidney transplant 23 years ago is today calling for a change in the way donors are handled.

Teresa Driver believes the transfer of organs is so vital people should have to opt out of the system rather than in, and next of kin should not be able to veto a donor card holder's last wish.

The Waldringfield resident, now 37, spent much of her childhood in and out of hospitals after suffering from renal failure in both her kidneys.

After waiting for six months on the transplant list, the veterinary receptionist received a new kidney and has not looked back since.

But with only a limited number of donors able to offer the same life-changing opportunities to other patients, she is advocating a reform of the system, so people only speak up if they do not wish to give theirs when they are gone.

Mrs Driver, of Newbourne Road, who went into Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital after a mysterious swelling was noticed by her parents when she was just six, said: “I think everyone should carry donor cards, it should be compulsory.

“You should have to opt out rather than sign in. It is so important everyone should have the chance to have a transplant.”

She said the current system was flawed in that someone could sign up to the register, but their next of kin could stop their organs being used.

“Everything that you want could be taken out of your hands,” she said. “At the end of the day they are not a lot of good to you when you're gone.

“At a time when everyone is emotional you are not going to want someone else's organs taken away but if you are going to make that decision (to be on the register) you should have that carried through.”