Gill Mills already owed her life to her elder sister, Janice Patis, who donated a kidney when she needed one. That gift, from a young mother, meant that Ms Mills too could start a family, and the kidney functioned well for 20 years. Now she has been saved a second time - by her younger brother, Steven Patis.

Ms Mills, from West Mersea, near Colchester, was told at 21 that she had nephrotic syndrome, which means too much protein passes from the blood into urine. The condition caused her feet and face to swell up.

Doctors initially treated her with steroids and tried chemotherapy to shock her kidneys into working. They then put her on dialysis. But by the time she was 25 the only option left was a transplant.

Steven, then aged 18, was considered too young to donate a kidney. So Janice, then 26, stepped in, despite having a young baby.

The transplant operation in 1988 was a success and gave Ms Mills, who had married a shortly before, a new lease of life. “Before the operation I was very lethargic and would get breathless walking upstairs. Suddenly I had all this energy and I felt great.”

It meant she could start a family, and she now has a son, Jacob, 16, and daughter, Kate, 14, Two years ago, the doctors noticed that the kidney was no longer functioning as it should. Tests showed that the level of poisons in her blood were six times that expected in a healthy person and doctors said that the only option was another transplant.

Ms Mills said: “It was a massive blow. I thought, ‘Oh no, not again’.”

Her younger brother, a father of two from Colchester, agreed to have tests to see if he was compatible. The transplant took place in November. Both siblings have recovered.

Ms Mills, 45, said: “I owe them both everything. You don’t know how close you are until a time of crisis. I can’t put it into words. My children call Janice their second mum, which is true because without her they wouldn’t have a mum. Now Steven has done the same. I rang him up at new year and said, ‘Thanks for making my new year so special’.”

Ms Mills is now urging people to carry a donor card. “It can make such a difference,” she said. She is hoping that her new kidney will last a lifetime but, should it fail, she says she still has an older brother, Peter Patis, 49, to fall back on. “He’s my spare.”

Success story

6,500 people in Britain are currently waiting for a kidney transplant

20% of all transplant organs are from living donors, often siblings

94% of patients are still functioning well a year after receiving a transplant

841 The average number of days an adult waits for a kidney

164 The average wait for a child

1954 The first successful kidney transplant, between living twins

Source: Times database

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