LAST month, Cwmbran mum Denise Rapps was given the gift of life and had a successful kidney transplant.

Now, just weeks later, the 51-year-old is hoping to pull on her trainers for an event which will raise cash for renal research.

Denise, of Gifford Close, Two Locks, set her sights on joining fellow fundraisers in the Walk for Life, organised by the Kidney Research Unit for Wales Foundation.

Hundreds are expected to take part in sponsored walks throughout South Wales in May. And if Denise, who has a son Jason, 31, is fit enough, she will be joining them.

Looking back, Denise still doesn't know what caused her kidneys to fail last year. "I thought I had a bug or something because there was a lot of it around at the time. "I had it for a couple of days and then it would go away but it would always come back again," she said.

Instinct told Denise, who has suffered from high blood pressure, something was very wrong.

A series of tests confirmed she had chronic renal failure and she was immediately put on dialysis.

"I was terrified," she said. "It was such a shock because I didn't know that I had a serious illness at all."

Last September doctors at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, told Denise she was suitable for a transplant.

In the months that followed Denise's 49-year-old sister, Meryl Halliday, was found to be a match and the pair geared themselves up for the operation.

But at 6am on Wednesday, February 5, Denise was awakened by an urgent telephone call from the hospital - they had a donor and they needed her to go in immediately. She said: ""I was in complete shock because my sister and I had prepared ourselves for an operation."

But knowing someone had died in order for the transplant to take place affected Denise. She said: "It felt very strange to be honest. The thought that someone had died was awful.

"I do understand that unless you're in the donor family's position it's difficult to say what anyone would do. "The best thing to do is make sure you carry a donor card." Denise was allowed out of hospital a week after the operation. "I have to take about 13 tablets a day, but I don't mind.

"If I am strong enough to take part in the walk then I will. I really hope others will do it though because it means there'll be more research and help available to us." For more information call KRUF on 029 20343940.