IT WAS a double celebration for heart and lung transplant girl Pippa Langstone, 24, last week — not only was she the toast of hundreds of well-wishers at a party marking the tenth anniversary of her operation, but she returned from the European Heart Transplant Games in Norway clutching a handful of medals.

'The party was wonderful. I saw lots of people I hadn't seen for years,' she said. 'I lost my voice during the evening from too much talking.'

At the games in Sandje Fjord, featuring more than 400 people benefiting from transplant surgery, Pippa took silver medals for table tennis in both the singles and the doubles event and a bronze medal for the long jump.

'I was pretty shocked, but absolutely delighted,' she said.

Pippa is now living near Exeter and has returned to the city's university where she is working in the administration department.

She took a politics degree a couple of years ago and may well be the only heart and lung transplant patient to take GCSEs, A-levels and a degree since the operation.