An Irish great grandmother has been recognised as the world's longest living survivor of a lung transplant.
77-year-old Vera Dwyer is celebrating 30 years since she had the life-saving surgery.
Already a Guinness World Record holder, she was today honoured with a gold medal by the Irish Heart and Lung Transplant Association.
She said she was given just years to live when she travelled to the UK for the procedure in 1988.
Great Grandmother Vera Dwyer has been awarded a gold medal by the Irish Heart and Lung Transport Association for being the longest living single lung transplant recipient.
Vera was once given days to live but is now celebrating 30 years since her transplant. pic.twitter.com/iWz4IiK2x4
— Kacey O'Riordan (@KaceyORiordan) November 20, 2018
She told Newstalk that she feels incredibly lucky to have defied the odds.
"Five years they gave you - If you were lucky you got five years," she said.
"So I really disappointed them all.
"I saw my family all grow up, get married and have their children and now I have great grandchildren.
"So I am so lucky to see all that."
Ms Dwyer was left with no option but to travel to the UK for her procedure as the transplant was not available in Ireland in 1988.
She has been a patient of the Heart and Lung Transplant Department at The Mater Hospital since it first opened in 2003.
