A bright and bubbly schoolgirl who was given a new lease of life after a lung transplant says she will be “forever in the debt” of her organ donor.

Chloe Bennett, of Glenhaven Avenue, Borehamwood, was born with breathing condition cystic fibrosis (CF) and spent most of her childhood in and out of hospital.

But after spending just ten months critically ill on the organ donor waiting list, the she was offered a double lung transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital late last year – which in turn saved her life.

The 12-year-old is a strong advocate of organ donation and is encouraging more people to sign up to the register.

Her mother, Tasha Bennett, said: “It’s hard, because the person whose lungs Chloe had helped save my daughter’s life but at the same time, their family lost someone.

“Chloe says she will be forever in their debt. They’ve done something amazing by saving someone else’s child while grieving.

“Until you’re in that position, you don’t know how important being on the register is.”

After nearly 12 years of failed treatments, doctors said her only chance of survival was if she was given new lungs.

But it was touch and go as Chloe fought for her life on numerous occasions, but her mother, and father Greg, say she came out fighting.

She added: “I nearly didn’t pick up the phone when the hospital rang to say they had found some lungs for Chloe – it was nearly midnight and I assumed it was a drunk or a prank call.

“I was in shock. I didn’t think it was going to happen. Chloe has a rare blood type and I thought it would take a long time.

“She had a rough time afterwards and was in hospital for 13 weeks. Anything that could go wrong went wrong. We were worried – our child’s life was out of our hands.”

Chloe was diagnosed with the condition, which causes a build-up of mucus in the lungs, when she was six months old.

Before she was referred to Great Ormond Street, doctors said she would not be able to life like a normal child – but she defied all their expectations.

She initially started thriving but when she started in reception Monksmead School, in Borehamwood, she went downhill.

Mrs Bennett added: “When she was diagnosed I was told a cure would be here in five years but that was 12 years ago and we’re still waiting.”

Today, Chloe is a happy-go-lucky Year 7 pupil at Mill Hill County School, in Worcester Crescent, and her life has been “transformed”.

Chloe, who has been left deaf by the side effects of the medications, was so fascinated by her transplant that she put a photo of her old, damaged lungs on social media site Facebook.

She now enjoys sleepovers with her friends, going shopping, walking her dog, Jake, and fighting with her sister, Lauren, 15.

Mrs Bennett added: “She turned a massive corner. She’d got it in her head that if she hadn’t had the organ transplant she wouldn’t have made it to Christmas.

“But with what we’ve already overcome in our family, we knew she would.”

The family’s journey through organ donation will be featured on the second episode of Fight to Breathe, which will air on BBC2 on Tuesday, July 21 at 9pm.