THE M.E.N. today calls on readers to join the organ donor register – to save the lives of patients like brave Rachael Wakefield.

Rachael,  21, who suffers from a rare lung condition, is waiting for the phone call that could help her defy medical advice and live a normal life.

She is one of more than  400 people in Greater Manchester awaiting an organ transplant. But the clock is ticking – health officials say many patients will die before an organ becomes available. Less than a quarter of the population of Greater Manchester is on the organ donor register – well below the national average.

Rachael, from Dukinfield, said: “If people were in the same position as me they would want a transplant. If you’re willing to take then you should be willing to give.”

The former Droylsden Girls School pupil became  ill at 14 and suffered repeated lung infections and breathlessness.

Her condition deteriorated to the extent that doctors decided there was no point in putting her on the organ donor list. She was admitted to the Willow Wood hospice in Ashton-under-Lyne last December where she was expected to die.

But Rachael refused to give up and has astounded medical experts with her will to live despite her lungs only operating at 15 per cent capacity.

She said: “When I was at the hospice they said I was too unwell and to enjoy last Christmas. But I just thought, that’s not good enough, I’m not having that. I’m getting on that list.”

Last week it was finally decided Rachael, who is connected to an oxygen machine 24 hours a day, should have her wish  and she was added to the organ donor list.

She said: “I just want a normal life. I don’t want to go round the world. I just want the chance to be normal.”

Mum Lynette, 43, and dad Philip Motterhead, 39, are also waiting anxiously for the call that would save their daughter.

Philip, a retail manager, said: “Obviously our main concern is Rachael but there are others.  When you see what she goes through, it’s hard. But she’ll get through, I know she will.”

Pam Prescott, of UK Transplant, said: “Every day three people die in the UK while waiting for an organ  transplant and research has shown that while most of us support organ donation and the overwhelming majority would take an organ if we needed it, there’s still some way to go in getting people to sign up.

“I would urge everybody who supports organ donation to show it by signing up to the Organ Donor Register and discussing their wishes with their families. More people are signing up than ever before, but many more are needed.”

Currently 346 people from Greater Manchester are waiting for a new kidney, 13 are waiting for a new kidney or pancreas, four for a heart, 20 for new lungs and 23 for a new liver.

Since April 71 people  have been given new kidneys, three have had a pancreas swap, four have had new hearts and there have been four lung swaps.

To register on for organ donation, telephone 0300 1232323 or go to www.organdonation.nhs.uk