RICHARD Jones knows almost nothing about the woman who saved his life, except that she was 38 years old and she died suddenly.

But, he says, the love and gratitude he feels for her and for her family is overwhelming.

The Neath dad, like three other members of his tight-knit family, had been battling a life-threatening kidney disease from the age of 10.

He had become used to spending 20 hours per week hooked up to a dialysis machine, feeling like death and worrying if he had a future.

But on Christmas Day in 2003 Richard was given a gift which changed his life.

"My mum and dad gave me life but my kidney donor gave me a second life when I needed it," he says. "And I can't tell you how grateful I am and how much love I feel for the donor and for her family for helping me."

Diagnosed with a kidney disease which can lead to organ failure, Richard went through years of poor health before being put on dialysis for three and a half years.

Though the process kept him alive, it took its toll on his life.

"I had to give up work because I had the dialysis three times a week for six hours at a time and I didn't feel well at all."

Now, Richard is determined to live life to the full, partly in honour of the donor who gave him a new lease of life.

"You don't feel 100 per cent with a donated organ because your immune system is affected and you have to take anti-rejection drugs. But I can't believe how much better I do feel. When you have been very ill and you get a second chance it changes the way you look at life completely. You do appreciate everything more.

"So I try to do as much as I can and to do things I have always wanted to do."

So fundraising cycling treks from north to South Wales and cycling trips through Brittany with his teenage son Morgan are all life experiences he has put under his belt since he got his new kidney.

"And I spent the night sleeping on Snowdon, which is something I had always wanted to do.

"I do these things partly to raise money for kidney charities and for cancer — because my brother Wayne died of cancer — and partly to let people know what someone with a transplant can do."

Richard's story, and similar ones from his brothers and sister, Robert, Helen and Wayne, are particularly poignant at the moment since the Welsh Government is looking to roll out a policy of presumed consent on organ donation, so your organs can be taken in the event of your death unless you choose to carry a card saying that you disagree. The proposal has drawn some disquiet from religious leaders, with the archbishop of Cardiff, George Stack, hitting out at the proposal, saying that a body is not "an asset of the state".

But Richard's mum Helena, 78, says years of campaigning and of fundraising have taught her that most people would throw their support behind presumed consent.

She says many people she has met over the years haven't got donor cards in their wallets because they haven't got around to signing up to the scheme, not because they have objections to it.

"I have handed out hundreds and hundreds of donor cards outside supermarkets and theatres and in all of the years I have been doing it I can count on one hand the people who reject them and who don't want to talk about it.

"The people who don't have a card already usually say they haven't got around to doing it yet but they want to, or they have filled in the card there and then and asked me to send it off for them. The younger generation particularly seems very happy to support it."

Over the years the grandmother's fundraising has included a parachute jump for her 70th birthday.

And she has seen her children get the new kidneys they needed.

But with more than 300 people on the waiting list for an organ in Wales alone, she urges people to think more about whether they can help others in need of lifesaving ops.

"The most important thing, even if you don't have a donor card, is to talk to your family about what you want to happen to your organs if the worst should happen.

"I understand it is something people often don't like to think about or to talk about but nobody knows what is around the corner.

"And I do understand some people have some objections about the presumed consent and the opt-out system, but that is their opinion. I just hope they are never in a position where someone they love needs an organ to stay alive. What would they do then?"