RENEE Chong, who had a heart and lung replacement seven years ago, has beaten competitors from 16 nations to win three medals.

Cystic fibrosis sufferer Mrs Chong, 48, of Monks Park, Milbourne, near Malmesbury, returned from the European Heart And Lung Transplant Games in Klagenfurt, Austria, with two silver medals in singles tennis and doubles badminton, and a bronze in singles table tennis.

In a bid to combat the effects of the cystic fibrosis Mrs Chong, a member of Malmesbury Lawn Tennis Club, had a heart and lung transplant on January 10 1995 at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex.

"That transplant has actually changed my life and extended my life. Otherwise I wouldn't have had a chance," she said.

Since the operation, Mrs Chong, the secretary of Malmesbury Twinning Association, attends check-ups every six months at Harefield Hospital and at The Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

She also takes blood tests every two months at Gable House Surgery in Malmesbury and takes regular prescriptions of enzymes, vitamins and anti-rejection drugs.

"In theory there is nothing I cannot do, and I feel lucky for the way things have gone for me in the last few years," she said.

Two years earlier, on her first appearance at the European Heart And Lung Championships, in Norway, Mrs Chong won gold in doubles table tennis.

She has also won medals at the British Championship.

Mrs Chong, a receptionist at Cirencester Agricultural College said: "There always remains a fear that my body will reject the heart and lungs because it can happen at any time, but I say to myself that I will deal with that when and if it happens, but I keep it at the back of my mind."

Mrs Chong, who is separated from husband David and has never had children in case she passes cystic fibrosis on to them, grew up in Dublin and was a keen tennis player and member of the local club.

It was not until she was a secretary working in Brussels in 1978, aged 24, that she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

"It was scary. I could be walking about perfectly fine and then not be able to breathe because of a build-up of phlegm in my lungs," she said.

Over the next ten years her condition deteriorated and she spent months at a time in hospital with chest complaints.

"By the time I was 34 there was a marked deterioration I was always going into hospital with chest infections and was frequently on nebulisers," she said.

Mrs Chong spent five months in and out of hospital in Brussels in 1988.

Her lung collapsed seven times and she was advised to have a heart and lung transplant.

"I would have been the first heart and lung transplant in Belgium so I decided to come back to Britain," she said.

On returning to Britain, to live in Malmesbury, she underwent treatment at The Royal Brompton Hospital for two years, and was well enough to go back to work.

"The problem was the damage to my lungs was considerable and getting worse, so an operation was inevitable," she said.

In September 1993 Mrs Chong once again found herself in The Royal Brompton, with chest complaints and on oxygen.

"Soon after that, the decision was made that I needed to apply for a donor," she said.

Following a succession of false hopes, a suitable donor was eventually found, and Mrs Chong was given new lungs, and a new heart, in a five-hour operation by Professor Magdi Yacoub.

She does not know the identity of the donor.

"My heart was fine, so that went to someone else," she said.

Mrs Chong said the change was noticeable straight away.

"Previously I had not been able to walk to the kitchen from the living room without getting out of breath and needing oxygen, but now I could do almost anything I wanted," she said.

Mrs Chong says she has now set her sights on the next European Games in Dublin in two years.

Before that is the next British Championships in Loughborough in August but the date clashes with a visit from Malmesbury's twin town of Gien, in France, for the town's carnival, so Mrs Chong says she will not be competing.

For donor card information call 0845 6060400.

Cystic fibrosis fact file

Four per cent of the British population carry the cystic fibrosis gene. If two carriers have a child they have a one in four chance of that child having cystic fibrosis.

It leads to changes in the body's chemistry. In the lungs, thick, sticky mucus obstructs the airways and forms a breeding ground for infection. Each infection leads to progressive lung damage.

In the digestive system thick secretions clog the pancreas. Not enough digestive enzymes are produced which leads to malnutrition, slowed growth and development.

Medical advances mean the average life expectancy for a cystic fibrosis sufferer is now in the mid-30s.

As the disease progresses some patients may develop diabetes and liver problems.