Heart transplant girl reaches 21st
As a 13-year-old, Hannah was given just six months to live without the life-saving surgery.
Hannah, of Nafferton, near Driffield, said: "Today is massive for me and something I once could never have anticipated marking.
"It is amazing, surreal really, because life has been such a roller coaster ride to the point of me contemplating my own death.
"But I stayed positive and clung on to hope, even in the bad times, and now I celebrate every day."
Hannah's plight touched thousands of Mail readers as she and her family waited anxiously for seven months for the right donor to become available.
After three false alarms, she received a new heart in life-saving surgery at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital in February 2001.
Student Hannah will celebrate her coming of age with family and friends at a big party in Nafferton Village Hall on Saturday night.
Today she is sitting an exam as part of her childcare course at Bishop Burton College, near Beverley, but will be raising a glass with friends in the pub afterwards.
There have been many other happy milestones for Hannah, like winning a place at college to be a nursery nurse and passing her driving test.
Hannah now has a boyfriend, Kevin Preston, 21, from Driffield, who is employed at the petrol station where she works part-time to earn extra money.
She said: "I love doing the normal things like getting up to go to college and having a great weekend, but I keep having to pinch myself.
"These are things the most people take for granted, but I never will because I never thought I would live to this age.
"For a few years after the transplant I was scared to make long-term plans, but now I feel so healthy and can look to the future, like getting married."
Her mum, Ros, added: "Hannah is a fighter - she's always done the unexpected."
Hannah and her family support campaigns by UK Transplant urging people to carry organ donor cards.
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