“I hope my sister will be blessed with the same life that I have.”

Sisters Allison Carr and Karen Owens were inseparable their whole lives.

They saw each other every day and shared every family milestone together.

The two shared a common congenital heart condition and both required transplant surgery.

Alison, 54, received a new heart last year but Karen, 57, is still waiting for a transplant.

As a result, the Lanarkshire sisters are experiencing a “rollercoaster” of emotions as they support each other with life-saving treatment, navigating COVID-19 and hoping to be reunited with their families once lockdown is lifted.

“Sometimes I tell my husband and Karen that I can't believe I'm alive and without the heart I was born with.

“The night before the transplant, my heart rate was 27 beats per minute, and when I woke up two days later it was 110 beats per minute.

“It's so overwhelming and I get emotional thinking about it and talking about it. This journey has been hard but so worth it.”

Karen, from Airdrie, was also diagnosed with a heart condition called familial dilated cardiomyopathy in 2008.

This is the same disease that took the life of the sisters' father in 2005.

Karen was fitted with a defibrillator four years ago and was told last November she needed a transplant to survive.

“I watched Allison's condition deteriorate over the year before she had her transplant and I think I knew it was inevitable the same thing would happen to me after what she went through,” Karen said.

“I knew my heart was failing but it wasn’t as advanced as Allison’s and I wasn’t on the transplant list.

“The day she had her surgery, my husband and I were with her.

“You go up and down. You think this is a wonderful thing, but then you think, oh, there's another side to it and some people just won't survive.”

“But to be there when she came out and to be able to watch her progress since then has been absolutely phenomenal.”

All she can do now is wait and hope that a suitable donor will be found so that she can have her own transplant.

“I don't really think about it during the day,” Karen said.

“But if I go to bed and lie quietly and my heart stops (as will happen because of our illness), I will want a new heart.

“But I think: I shouldn't be selfish. Someone else has to die in order for me to receive this new heart, this gift.”

Sister Alison says the transplant she underwent at NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank has changed her life.

“I was told I would have a defibrillator fitted on my 40th birthday, then on my 50th birthday I was told I needed a transplant.

“But now, thanks to my new heart, I can look forward to my 60th birthday.

“Without that, I wouldn't be here and I have so many people to thank, especially my donors.”

It is estimated that there are around 500 people on the organ transplant waiting list in Scotland at any one time.

Since new laws were introduced in March, everyone in Scotland is automatically considered an organ donor unless they opt out of the system.

Currently, people are assumed to have consented to organ donation unless they say otherwise.

Experts say this will enable many more people to have access to life-saving, life-changing transplant procedures.

Dr Jane Cannon, NHS Golden Jubilee Consultant Transplant Cardiologist, hopes Alison's story will be an inspiration to others.

She said: “Seeing seriously ill people like Alison receive a lifesaver and go home to their families is always the end goal and the most rewarding part of the job.”

“This is all thanks to organ donors whose humanity and selflessness made this possible.”

For now, Allison has not been able to see her two sons-in-law and three grandchildren properly for 16 months, but she remains in isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But she and her sister hope to one day rediscover their passion for walking the Scottish hills together.

“I hope my sister has the same blessing of life that I have,” Allison said.

“Never take life for granted.”