A BRIDE who died two days before her wedding has given a new lease of life to five patients waiting for transplant organs.

Miss Penelope Taylor, aged 27, from Neasham, was due to marry Mr Paul Gibson at All Saints' church, Hurworth, on Saturday, September 22.

She felt unwell at the wedding rehearsal on the Monday, and was found unconscious the following day at the Newton Aycliffe home she shared with her fianc.

She was taken to Darlington Memorial hospital where she suffered a stroke on the Wednesday and died the following morning.

For a service at Darlington crematorium, her body was dressed in her going away outfit with her wedding dress spread over.

The church where she was to marry was packed to overflowing with mourners prior to her ashes being buried next to her grandfather in the graveyard.

Miss Taylor would have celebrated her 28th birthday this month on her return from a honeymoon in Barbados.

Her parents, Mr Lewis Taylor and his wife, Daphne, spoke this week about their grief at losing their daughter, coupled with the comfort of knowing she had helped others to live.

Mrs Taylor said: "A 19-year-old girl from Ireland with cystic fibrosis received her lungs. We were told she was going rapidly down hill so they have given her a new life.

"A man in Glasgow has received her heart, her kidneys went to Liverpool - one to a man and the other to a woman with two children. Her liver went to Leeds." She added: "Everyone thinks their child is special, but she was one of those people who seemed to weave a special magic."

Her husband agreed: "She just had that magnetism. She absolutely threw herself into everything and packed life to the full."

Mrs Taylor said her daughter had arranged a surprise for Paul, her husband-to-be, for their wedding day.

"She had arranged for him to be picked up in an Aston Martin and given a spin before arriving at the church.

"One of her biggest regrets was that she was never going to see him in it, so she had arranged for us to get a photograph. Paul was the love of her life. It was to have been a special treat, but it wasn't to be."

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