Tara Smith looks full of health as she curls up on the settee talking enthusiastically about the challenges that lie ahead.

Yet five months ago, it was a very different picture. The 38-year-old could barely walk, spent a lot of time in hospital and frequently relied on oxygen to keep going.

Tara has cystic fibrosis and her lungs were in such a bad way that 18 months ago, she was given only a 50% chance of living for another two years.

Her life was transformed on October 31, last year, when she underwent a double lung transplant at Harefield Hospital.

Now she wants to thank the hospital staff by raising money for the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity through walking up Snowdon next month.

“The change to my life since the transplant is indescribable,” said Tara, who lives in Craythorne, Tenterden, with husband Graham.

“The world is my oyster now and I can think about a proper future.”

All Tara knows of her donor is that it was a 51-year-old woman who was a multiple organ donor.

“If I could talk to her family, saying thank-you would not cover it,” she said. “I have an incredible new life and the chance to live. I cannot express what it means to me.

“When you are contemplating the end of your life and someone you don’t know and will never know saves you, it is the ultimate gift and the ultimate kindness.”

Tara was born with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease which causes the body to produce thick mucus, affecting the lungs and digestive system.

“The last five years I have struggled and for the last two years my health has been horrendous," she said.

“I could only walk a few yards and was using oxygen a lot. I was in hospital for months at a time and then 18 months ago, the staff broached a transplant with me.

“I only had a 50% chance of surviving for another two years.”

Tara went on the transplant list in April, last year, and on the night of October 30, received a phone call at home saying the hospital had a match for her.

She underwent a nine-hour operation and stayed in hospital until December 4 – longer than planned because she had kidney failure which is common with lung transplants.

She will be on medication all her life and still goes to hospital once a week.

She and Graham got married in a quiet ceremony in June, last year, when Tara was very ill. They plan to have a blessing and big celebration next year.

Walking up Snowdon with her on Saturday, April 12, will be Graham and 10 other family members.

“I want to raise money for the hospitals and their pioneering work in heart and lung disease diagnosis,” said Tara.

“I am also raising awareness of the Live Life Then Give Life campaign to encourage more people to register as organ donors.

“If people sign the register, they must make their families aware of their wishes – around 40% of potential donations are stopped by families.”

To sponsor Tara, go to www.just giving.com/graham-smith39

For more on the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity go to www.rbhcharity.org or on Live Life Then Give Life, www.lltgl.org.uk