A WOMAN in need of a life-saving heart and lung transplant is the face of a new campaign urging people to become organ donors.

Stacie Pridden, 24, of Cherrytree Grove, appears in the video for the Give your Heart campaign, put together by the charity To Transplant and Beyond with Dare Advertising.

The video tells the story of a girl who needs a new heart – rather than expensive champagne and chocolates – for Valentine’s Day and ends with Stacie putting on her oxygen mask and breathing tubes.

“I can’t run marathons or climb mountains but I can raise awareness that people need to do this,” she said.

Stacie has pulmonary hypertension – a condition where the right side of the heart is damaged, making it less efficient at pumping blood around the body, which makes breathing difficult – and needs a supplementary oxygen supply 24 hours a day.

Despite more than 20 million people being registered on the organ donor list, organs must undergo rigorous testing before they can be transplanted, meaning very few will match.

While nine out of 10 people support organ donation, only three in 10 actually sign up, To Transplant and Beyond said.

Stacie said: “The question I would ask is, how many people would accept an organ if their life was at risk or they were dying? Statistically you’re more likely to need an organ than be an organ donor. That needs to change.”

There have been three false alarms when Stacie was told organs were available, only to have her hopes dashed when tests ruled they were unsuitable.

She said: “The first time I expected it, it was almost a dress rehearsal. The final one in September last year was the worst. I prepared myself to go through the operation and I felt so anxious.”

Stacie was born with three holes in her heart and endured operations every year until she was 13 but managed to keep 100 per cent attendance at Royal Wootton Bassett Academy. She was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension shortly afterwards.

In April 2012, Stacie was told she had three years left to live unless a donor was found.

She spends her time blogging, studying for a history degree through the Open University and publicising the organ donor campaign, with her story featured on Good Morning Britain, but admits her situation is urgent.

“I’ve stopped saying ‘when I get my transplant’, now it’s ‘if’,” she said.

“I suffer from anxiety and sometimes when I go to bed I worry that I will die in my sleep.”

“I am in heart failure but the condition is manageable.”

With twin Megan getting married this year and sister Candice expecting her first baby next month, 2015 is a year that Stacie wants to live to the full.

To join the Organ Donor Register visit www.organdon ation.nhs.uk/ or visit www.give yourheart.co.uk