A year after a double lung transplant, Hawke's Bay woman Makena Houston is away and singing

If you told Makena Houston a year ago that she would start her own business and take part in a musical, she would not have believed you.

The 26-year-old is celebrating the first anniversary of her double lung transplant.

And her recovery has not been easy.

"I went into it saying okay everyone, see you tomorrow," Houston said.

"Little did I know I wouldn't actually be awake for two weeks."

As far as recoveries from transplant go, Houston had a hard one.

Houston, 14 days after she woke up following her double lung transplant. Photo / Supplied

Her mother, Tracey Richardson said Houston had a surge reaction, where every cell in the body swells with fluid.

"Like if you hit your knee and it swells, it's like that, but her body did, the whole thing, every part of her body."

She was on external life support for two weeks.

"Certainly in the first week we didn't know, confidently know that she was going to even come out of it."

"This is very uncommon," Houston said, "Normal is maybe two or three days in the ICU, wake up after 24 to 48 hours."

When she woke up, she was unable to stand, sit, or even lift her hand. She had lost her muscle function.

Houston was in the ICU for eight weeks. She had a tracheostomy to insert a ventilator which prevented eating, drinking and talking.

"I couldn't see a way out of it, I thought I would be like that forever."

But a year later things have vastly improved. Houston has started her own communications business, Makena Houston Communications.

She is also set to be in the ensemble cast of Mamma Mia in June in Central Hawke's Bay.

Makena Houston, a year after going through a double lung transplant. Photo / Paul Taylor

The anniversary is in April, and will be a two-day affair.

On the exact day one year after her surgery, Houston will be celebrating with her friends, Glamping in her backyard.

The day before however, she and her family are going to take a moment to remember a very special person.

Following a family dinner they are going to light a fire lantern.

"Just send a little message up to my donor to say thank you, and we are thinking of her."

Houston does not know a lot about her donor, and probably never will, but as Richardson says, they are thankful to her every day Houston breaths.

Houston moved back to Hawke's Bay from Auckland in September, and since then has gone back to singing.

Her condition, cystic fibrosis, literally used to take her breath away, meaning she had to give up singing.

"The things I can do now, my life is absolutely incomparable to what I could do pre-transplant."

Houston is not the only one in her family to have had a major life change - her brother Cameron also has cystic fibrosis and received a new set of lungs.

In a weird twist of fate, the day after Houston finished her active recovery from her transplant (marked by climbing One Tree Hill in Auckland), her brother got his call and went into surgery.

Houston with her mother, Tracey Richardson, at their home in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Paul Taylor

Houston is not completely out of the woods. Her kidneys stopped functioning and she spends 15 hours a week on dialysis. The hope is for her mum to donate a kidney to her.

Once she has it, her plan is to go and live, as the sad truth is there is no cure for cystic fibrosis.

"The average life expectancy in New Zealand after a lung transplant is only five years," Houston said.

The family also wants to encourage people to discuss organ donation with their families.

There is no official donor registry in New Zealand, and the tick box on a driver's licence is not considered informed consent, so the decision falls on next of kin.