But when she eventually had a double lung transplant in 2011, she realised she’d been living only half a life.

“I felt like I was 20 again,” Jennifer said.

The Ballarat mother was doing rehabilitation at Ballarat Health Services’ Queen Elizabeth Centre when she got the call that would change her life.

“I was like ‘what’, I was shaking and people were crying. It was pretty full on.”

Jennifer got the call in the morning, was at the Melbourne hospital by lunchtime and was being operated on by 6.30pm.

She was then in intensive care for a week, spent a month on a ward and then had to live in Melbourne for a further month for physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

“I’ve had no issues since. I had a few symptoms they thought was rejection but it actually just turned out to be a bad flu.”

Jennifer and her donor’s family exchanged letters early on, and she still writes annually on the transplant anniversary but now doesn’t get a reply.

Jennifer admits she gets emotional about the transplant at times and stays fit and healthy both for her and her donor’s sake.

“You’re keeping them alive too.”

BHS nurse donation specialist Larna Kennedy said the Ballarat region had contributed to a record breaking 406 lives being saved due to the generosity of 140 deceased Victoria donors and their families in 2016.

Victoria contributed 28 per cent – the highest of the states – to the total donor pool.

“We would encourage people to have the donation decision discussion and to register on the organ donor register,” Ms Kennedy said.

However, she also stressed less than one per cent of people who have hospital deaths are suitable for organ donation.

“You are more likely to need a transplant than to be a donor.”

You can register as an organ donor either via the mygov website or at DonateLife at donatelife.gov.au/decide.