A LITTLE girl was back at home last night, waiting for the heart transplant her parents hope will save her life.

Hannah Pudsey, 12, a patient at the regional transplant centre at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, has been on the waiting list longer than any other child in the country.

Her parents, Ros and David Pudsey, from Nafferton, east Yorkshire, have made a desperate last-ditch appeal for people to become organ donors.

Hanna, who suffers from the same heart defect as TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson's new baby, was due to get a new heart ten weeks ago.

But, just as the family were approaching the hospital, they received a phone call telling them the organ was unsuitable and their hopes were dashed.

Hannah has only months to live unless a heart is found, and her parents face an agonising wait.

Mrs Pudsey said: "She still looks quite well, but her heart has gone into failure and could pack in at any moment. All we want to do is give her a chance of a future, but without a transplant there's no hope."

Hannah has two holes in her heart, which means one side is stronger than the other.

She almost died in 1996 when one of her heart valves failed shortly after her eighth birthday, but she somehow pulled through.

Hannah's' condition is deteriorating. Her heart is the size of a rugby ball, which is swelling her chest and damaging other organs.

Now the family's last hope is that a suitable organ is found quickly for a life-saving transplant.