Dying 22-year-old rejects organ donation so she can complete bucket list

A terminally-ill 22-year-old has told how she made the heartbreaking decision to turn down a new heart and lungs so she could be well enough to tick off her bucket list.

Channan Petrides, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, took herself off the transplant list after weighing up the hidden risks the operation would pose.

Doctors told her there was a chance she could die on the operating table, or her organs could fail after just six months.

Instead Channan, who has been told by doctors she has about one year to live, decided she wanted to make her time left the best it could be.

She said her loved ones struggled with her decision at first, with some refusing to speak to her, but they now fully support her decision.

“I know I’ve taken a massive risk but I want to enjoy the time I have left, rather than stick waiting to get a call that may never come,” Channan said.

“Nobody could say for sure that the transplant would work, and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything on my bucket list because of risk of infection.”

“Cystic fibrosis feels like having a plastic bag over your head and breathing through a straw so a lot of patients who have transplants have to learn to breathe again because they aren’t used to taking in that much air.

“If it brought me another twenty years, of course I’d do it, but doctors told me there was a chance I’d die on the operating table or my new organs would fail after just six months.”

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition causing the lungs and digestive system to become clogged with thick sticky mucus.

Channan's bucket list