The family of a Co Kildare mother and artist who has been waiting six weeks for an urgently needed heart transplant have appealed to the public for help.
Ms Sandra Johnson (43), from Mooretown, just outside Kildare, was admitted to Dublin's Mater Hospital in mid-August after she developed a virus which attacked part of her heart muscle.
She was put on a waiting list for a heart donation on August 22nd and while her husband George says she is among those at the top of the list, there has been no sign of a suitable donor since.
"She is attached to a pump machine which helps her damaged heart to function and this has confined her to bed since August 17th, the day she was admitted to hospital," he said.
"She is holding on. She is a fighter.
"This combined with the care and expertise of the Mater Hospital intensive care unit has helped to keep Sandra alive," he added.
Sandra, a mother of three, is a well-known artist and art teacher in the Kildare area.
George said the whole experience had thrown the family into turmoil.
"We did not expect this to happen to us. Through this crisis the extended family, friends and neighbours have been of tremendous support to us through their actions and prayers," he said.
Sandra's illness had also served to make him and those around him realise the importance of organ donation.
"I have now become an organ donor myself and I would encourage other people to do the same," he said.
It was an opportunity, he stressed, to give somebody else the gift of life.
Appealing for anyone out there who may know of a potential donor to contact the hospital, he said: "I hope and pray that this appeal will bear fruit as the children and myself all love and miss Sandra more than words can say. She is a young woman and deserves a second chance to live life to the full again."
He added: "It's really a waiting game at the moment. We hope a heart comes through fairly quickly.
"She's ready now for a transplant and the sooner they get it done the better."
Most organs used for transplantation come not from the victims of road traffic accidents but from people already in hospital suffering from brain injury who are being maintained on a life support machine.
Donor cards can be picked up at most chemists and consent to be a donor can be confirmed on the back of all driving licences.