The lungs that Jennifer Wederell was given to save her life brought only agonising death "I just could not believe it," says her father. The warning on a pack of cigarettes says, 'Smoking kills. How can you have a campaign like that and still allow smokers" lungs to be used for transplants?" The Sunday Telegraph's investigation into the case has prompted an apology from the hospital concerned for the way Jennifer was treated. And yet the extraordinary truth is that the use in transplants of smokers" lungs is far more widespread than anyone would guess. Last month, in a written answer that went largely unnoticed, a peer speaking for the Department of Health in the House of Lords revealed that 39 per cent of lungs used in transplants come from donors who have smoked. "People don't know that this is going on," says Mr Grannell, who watched his daughter die at home in Hawkwell, Essex, in late August, aged 27. Lung cancer is very distressing. You have tumours and lesions everywhere," he says. Yes, she had a fantastic wedding day, but her death was horrible. I would have given up the good times not to see her die like that. Jennifer's death came 17 months after the transplant at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex that had transformed her life for such an agonisingly brief time. Her family believe it also gave her cancer - but Mr Grannell chooses not to be angry. The 57-year-old former head of partnership marketing at Visa Europe and his wife Ruth are determined to accentuate the positive. That's what their daughter did all her life, they say, and it is why they set up a Facebook page in her memory called Jennifer's Choice, aiming to encourage more non-smokers to register as organ donors. "We also want people who have waited all their lives for a transplant to be given the full facts, and the choice that Jennifer never had," says Mr Grannell. She would have said no to those lungs, if she had been offered the choice. How can he be so sure? Jennifer had spent her whole life avoiding cigarette smoke, and at work with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust she warned parents to do the same for their children. She abhorred smoking. It was alien to her. The very last thing she would have done is to accept a smoker's lungs. She would rather have waited, even with all the risks involved. Jennifer was born in Essex in 1985, and was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of two. This hereditary disease coats the lungs and digestive system in a thick, sticky mucus. Her brother Richard, who was three years older, was also afflicted. "The doctor told us there was no cure," recalls Mr Grannell. She said, 'They'll both be dead by their teens. Go away and do the best you can." " So the Grannells lived life to the full while they could, including great holidays and a spell in America. They returned to this country in 1996, when the children were accepted into the care of what is now the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. "Richard started to deteriorate, almost spookily, on his 18th birthday," says Mr Grannell. We got him on the lung transplant list, but there was only one call out and that was a false alarm. He died peacefully in 2005, surrounded by his family, at the age of 23. In terms of a death, it was good one. We were as prepared as you can be. We couldn't fall apart over it, because we had Jennifer at home with the same prognosis. She was a determined young woman heading for a Masters degree in Victorian Studies at the University of East Anglia, when she met her future husband, David Wederell, through friends in February 2007. She had an unbelievable strength of mind and character," says Mr Wederell, 28, who works in IT. She wrote a dissertation while she was in hospital with a collapsed lung. They had been to the same school, although he was in the year above. She told me on the night we met that she had cystic fibrosis. Later, I checked the web to find out about it. Of course you find nothing but horror stories. But there was a connection between us I couldn't deny. They got engaged in July 2009, by which time her health had deteriorated badly and she was using oxygen 24 hours a day. "Jennifer had always dreamt of being able to walk down the aisle unaided, on her own terms," he says. If that was going to happen it would have to be after a transplant, so we decided to wait to get married. He had to accept that it might never happen. But you can't help who you fall in love with. Jennifer's father says his daughter knew her only chance of a longer life was a transplant. "She didn't know that they used smokers" lungs. Nor did anyone else she worked with at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. It's as if it was a secret. After 18 months on the waiting list, Jennifer was told in April 2011 that a pair of lungs was available. As her fiancé and mother waited by the bedside at the Harefield, a doctor ran through the risks of the transplant, including death on the operating table, and asked her to sign a form, confirming her consent. That would have been the time to say, 'The donor was a smoker, therefore there is a higher risk of malignancy. Do you want to go ahead or not?" " says Mr Wederell. They didn't mention it. If they had, she would have said no. Her father agrees. Jennifer was very good at knowing what was best for her body. She would never be swayed by a doctor's opinion. The Harefield was acting on the basis of guidelines in place when Jennifer was first put on the waiting list in 2009. But a revised policy had been published by NHS Blood and Transplant in March 2011, five weeks before her operation. This said a patient being offered an organ should be told "whether the donor poses a greater risk of transmission of infection or malignancy." That would have been the case with a smoker's lungs. "They should have told Jen," says her father. That's the big thing in my mind. Permission is one thing, but as far as the Department of Health is concerned, even a smoker's lungs are better than none for a transplant patient. In the House of Lords last month, Earl Howe revealed that in the three years to March 2012, 39 per cent of lung transplants had been made possible by donors with a history of smoking. The figure has increased dramatically: 15 years ago, only 13 per cent of transplants used "marginal organs" - in other words, those that come from smokers, the elderly or people with a history of disease. The change is a result of a shortage of organs. There are currently 230 people in the UK waiting for lung transplants. Quoting a study in the Lancet, Lord Howe said: "Due to the shortage of organs, the patient's probability of survival is greater if lungs from smokers are accepted than if they are declined and the patient chooses to wait." Mr Wederell objects. That may be a fair statement, but at the same time you would expect that the patient would have a choice. Jennifer did not. The transplant was a success, at first. Jennifer made plans, says her fiancé. "One of the first things she said to me when she came round from the anaesthetic was, 'You'd better bring in some wedding magazines."" They were married in Hockley, Essex, in September 2011 and honeymooned in Devon because the bride was not allowed to fly. A holiday in the sun was planned for the following year - but in February, tests revealed a mass in Jennifer's lungs. It turned out to be malignant. "They literally gave her weeks," says Mr Wederell. She was in hospital again when she was finally told about the donor. She told me that her transplant clinic doctor came in to her on a Friday night and said, 'We think it's cancer, and by the way, the donor was a middle-aged person who smoked 20 cigarettes a day. It was pretty much that. Short. Blunt. Had the cancer definitely come from the transplanted lungs? It started off in the lungs, so the potential for it had to have been there prior to the transplant. The risk of lung cancer when you're a smoker is far higher. The stats are there. What was the family's reaction to the news? Anger. They complained to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, who ruled that the hospital had behaved reasonably. However, the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust issued a statement on Friday night, in response to our investigation. "We extend sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Jennifer Grannell for their very sad loss," it said. It is very rare for patients to specify that they do not wish to be considered for clinically healthy lungs from smokers, but we recognise that Jennifer should have been given the opportunity to make this choice. The number of lungs available for transplant would fall by 40 per cent if smokers were ruled out, the trust said. Waiting lists would increase and many more patients would die without a transplant. However, patients should be given the opportunity to make their preferences known to us and in this regard we did not meet Jennifer's expectations, her family's expectations or our own. Mr Grannell still grieves for his beautiful daughter, of course. The memory of the way she suffered in the approach to her death on August 24 is visibly painful. But he is determined that this story should be told her way. The only way to bring about change is to be positive. We can't bring her back, but what we can do is say that there should be more transparency, so that patients are given the full facts and a choice," he says. It's also important that many more people who don't smoke come forward to register as organ donors. Please sign up. That's what Jennifer would say. That's what we can do for her. Additional reporting: Laura Donnelly To join the NHS Organ Donor Register, call 0300 123 0000 or visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk