GRANDFATHER David Donkin would have died long before his grandson was born without the expertise of North-East heart surgeons. He tells Barry Nelson why he's now giving something back.

BEFORE his illness David Donkin was not what you would call a sporting man. A hard working plasterer who says he enjoyed "hard graft", the nearest he got to being sporty was a game of darts in the pub.

"In fact, I think I was captain of the darts team," recalls David, 52, who lives in Craghead, Stanley, County Durham.

But after persistent chest pain, doctors told him the earth-shattering news that his heart muscles were so damaged he would need a heart transplant to survive.

"It was devastating, I had always worked hard and had never really been ill," says David, who worked for Derwentside District Council for 25 years. Fortunately, the right heart became available and in 1991 he had a transplant at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, one of more than 750 people to have received new hearts there.

Once he fully recovered from the transplant, David took a new interest in sport - the transplant games. Since the early 1990s he has won lots of medals playing badminton for the Freeman Hospital team.

Recently he became manager of the team, which includes around 25 other transplant patients ranging from children to people in their 70s. "The oldest team member is 72, it's pretty amazing," he says.

One of David's passions is helping to raise money for research and equipment at the Freeman Hospital. He will be out in the Gateshead MetroCentre on May 21 collecting for the hospital. He is also backing the Leeds-based National Heart Research Fund, a small charity which concentrates on helping heart scientists.

The little known NHRF funded six of the first eight heart transplant operations and the world's first artificial heart device. Nearer to home, the NHRF has donated more than £80,000 to heart researchers at the Freeman Hospital in recent years. Apart from normal donations the charity relies heavily on people leaving money in their wills. Ian Ackroyd, legacy officer for the NHRF, says well over half its income comes from this source.

David is impressed by a current scheme run by the NHRF which involves North-East solicitors drawing up free wills for people who agree to consider making a donation to the NHRF.

"I think this is a very good idea and I will certainly have a look at it," says David, who has even more to live for these days after he became a grandfather for the first time.

"My grandson, Nathan, is the love of my life, it is something I never thought I would live to see," he says.