Meet Ted Noble - he's one of the UK's longest-living people with a new heart

And even now the average life expectancy for people undergoing a heart transplant is under ten years.

But, 25 years later, Ted Noble is one of the UK’s longest-living people in the UK with a new heart.

Ted, from Foxhills in the New Forest, has celebrated the milestone with his family but says he thinks about the 16-year-old girl whose heart he received every day.

He said: “Meeting the family of the donor would be wonderful but it takes a very long time to organise.

“I can also imagine it was very hard for them so I am OK with not knowing exactly who donated the heart.”

But Ted’s luck comes as more than 200 desperately ill people have an agonising wait for a life-saving transplant in Hampshire.

A quarter of a century ago, the 77-year-old great grandfather of nine was told that without a new heart he may have only lived for another year at the most – at the age of 52.

Following his second heart attack, Ted was put on the transplant register and was told that it may take years to receive a heart.

But in the middle of the night, just three weeks later, Ted received a phone call telling him that he would be given a heart.

He said that the period before the transplant was ‘like hell on earth’.

He said: “I was so frightened at that time.

“There was so much stress and worrying that I might be dead tomorrow, it was hell on earth really.

“But there are people out there that would give anything to be in our position and I do feel really lucky.”

Ted hopes that he will be celebrating the 30th anniversary in five years’ time.

Ted’s celebrations come as health bosses urge more people to donate their organs after death and sign up to the Organ Donor Register.

According to the Organ Donation and Transplantation Activity Report, in Hampshire, 87 people received a potentially lifesaving or transforming transplant last year.

However the report shows that 19 people in the county died before they received the organ they desperately needed.

The figures have been released as part of a campaign to encourage more people to donate organs.

On Monday NHS Blood and Transplant will launch start Organ Donation Week and they want people to tell their family members they want to be an organ donor.

Even though someone maybe on the organ donor register, many families refuse to allow their dearly departed’s organs to be used.

Research shows that around four out of ten families in the UK did not agree to donate a relative’s organs.

It could mean someone waiting for a transplant may miss out on their only life-saving opportunity.

Ted and his family are celebrating his 25 year anniversary with a meal, while he was also presented with a badge from the Harefield Hamsters, a post-transplant support charity.

He says does not know whether he has lived so long because the heart was donated from a young person or because he has kept fit and healthy.

Since having heart complications, Ted has done all he can to stay active and to stay away from unhealthy, fatty foods.

He says he has had a good quality of life since the operation, carrying out daily DIY jobs, moving house and enjoying holidays.

The family have also thanked the staff in the cardiac department of Southampton General Hospital for all their help throughout the process.

During the week long campaign NHS Blood and Transplant, hospitals, health teams, charities and individual supporters will urge families to talk about organ donation.

There will also be a particular emphasis on encouraging more black and Asian families to become donors as last year only five per cent of all deceased donors came from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Sally Johnson, director of Organ Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant said: “Many families in Hampshire tell us they take huge comfort in knowing that their relative has saved the lives of others.

“Talking to your relatives about what you want is crucial as it is much more difficult to agree to donation when you don’t know what the patient would have wanted.

“There are 204 people in Hampshire waiting for a transplant now and they need people to agree to donate for them to get the organ transplant they so desperately need.

“It is especially important for people from our black and Asian communities to talk about organ donation.

“I realise that this is a very difficult subject but there are many black and Asian people who need a transplant.

“While some are able to receive an organ from a white donor, others will die if there is no donor from their own community.”

LAST year the Daily Echo backed a campaign by NHS Blood and Transplant to increase the number of registered donors in Hampshire.

The Seven Weeks to Say I Donate campaign saw more than 3,500 people sign up - smashing the target of 2,000 new potential donors that had been set.

One donor can save or transform up to nine lives through organ donation and transform even more by donating tissue.

Anyone can join the NHS Organ Donor Register, age and medical conditions are not necessarily a barrier to donation.

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.