Doctor Courage: Patient who endured heart, liver, kidney and lung transplants qualifies as a medic

She could easily be forgiven for never wanting to see the inside of a hospital again.

In a young life blighted by serious illnesses, Allison John has unwillingly made medical history by becoming the first person in Britain to have all her major organs transplanted.

She received a new liver, kidney, heart and lungs in a series of difficult operations spanning 12 years to tackle the major health problems that at one stage left her just three days from death.

Allison John, 32, who had four organ transplants, is keen to use her experiences as a patient in her role as a newly qualified doctor

For many, that would be enough contact with the medical profession to last a lifetime. But not for the determined Miss John.

Ever since she was a schoolgirl she had wanted to be a doctor - and now she has finally fulfilled the dream after graduating from medical college.

The 32-year-old, who took 14 years to complete her studies and who will soon begin work on the wards, said yesterday: 'I never thought this day would finally come. It's such a huge milestone for me.

'My life has been a bit of a rollercoaster and it's taken me a long time to get here but I got here in the end.

'After all that I've been through, I think I can use the experiences I've had with both good and bad doctors to help others.'

Her determination to succeed was demonstrated when her final procedure - to replace her diseased kidney with one of her father's healthy donated ones three years ago - was carried out mid-way through her medical degree.

When surgeons initially claimed she was too weak to be given a general anaesthetic, she used her medical knowledge to persuade them to give her a pain-blocking epidural instead, leaving her awake and listening to her iPod for distraction as the operation was carried out.



Miss John, who lives in Cardiff with her fiance Nathan Angell, 30, graduated from Cardiff University last month. She is now about to start work as a junior doctor at Neville Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, 30 miles away.

Her health problems date from infancy, when she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at six weeks old. The incurable genetic condition causes the lungs to clog up with mucus and sufferers are unable to absorb fats and other nutrients from food.

At the age of 14 her liver began to fail and she was told she would need a transplant. An agonising 16-month wait for a match followed before the transplant was carried out in September 1995.

Allison John on a ventilator aged 17 in 1995 after her liver transplant, with her mother Helen

It was only during surgery that doctors realised how ill she was, with as little as three days to live without a transplant. She had originally been offered a donor liver four months earlier - but had generously given it to another patient.

By then, her education had been affected to such an extent that she failed to get the A-level grades needed to start a medical degree, so she opted to study neuroscience at Cardiff instead. Six months after enrolling in 1996, however, she was told she was suffering from lung failure.

A match was found in August 1997 and Miss John was given four hours to get from her family home in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, to Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, where the new heart and lungs - they are replaced together as a package - were waiting. She made it with only minutes to spare after the ambulance got lost.

She then enjoyed good health for several years and completed her neuroscience degree in 2001, graduating with a 2:1, enough to get her into the university's College of Medicine the following October.

But in April 2005 came another devastating blow: The medication she was taking to stop her body rejecting the transplanted organs had caused renal failure and she would need a new kidney.

Her father David, 61, was found to be a match and the operation was carried out in December 2006. On her epidural she remained fully conscious, feeling the doctors 'tugging and pulling but no pain'.

Yesterday she said: 'Lots of people have said that I've had such bad luck but I don't look at it like that. The number of organs for donation is very low and I count myself as one of the lucky ones.'

Miss John, who plans to marry building contractor Mr Angell next year, added: 'At the moment I feel I'm in the best shape physically that I've ever been and I'm so excited about the future.'