Melissa Tennant - My Sisters Wishes: My Promise to Make My Twins Last Wishes Come True

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For Nicole. You are my sun, my moon and all my stars.

If you have been moved by Nicoles story, please register for organ donation in her memory, and one day you may be able to save a life like hers. You can sign up in a number of ways:

You could fill out a form on the NHS website: www.organdonation.nhs.uk

You can call the NHS donor line on 0300 123 23 23

Or you can also join when you register at your GP surgery, or for a driving licence, for a European Health Insurance card, or even when you apply for a Boots Advantage card.

Id also like to urge you to support the fantastic work that The Butterfly Trust does, providing face-to-face practical support to people living with cystic fibrosis and their families. I dont know where wed have been without them.

You can visit their website, www.butterflytrust.org.uk, to find out more.

The light from the laptops screen bathed my tear-stained face in its eerie glow as I sat in darkness in Nicoles bedroom.

Unable to sleep, Id crept from my room into hers. I was looking for something, but I didnt know what. Her funeral was in a few hours and I had an overwhelming feeling that there was some final connection I needed to make with my beloved twin sister; one last piece of her I could keep with me before I had to say goodbye for ever.

Looking around the room, it was exactly as shed left it when shed been rushed to hospital eight days before. Only now it was silent, the sound of her infectious giggle just a memory. Her collection of stand-up comedy DVDs were stacked neatly on a shelf, and on her dressing table boxes of tablets jostled for space alongside make-up and bottles of nail polish.

In the corner of the room her oxygen tank stood, once permanently by her side, now no longer needed.

Taking her fluffy pink dressing gown from the hook on the back of the door, I wrapped it around me, inhaling the scent of her DKNY perfume. I closed my eyes and, just for a moment, I was transported back in time 14 days, when we had hugged goodbye for the very last time.

Have a brilliant holiday, shed said. Dont worry about me, Ill be here when you get back.

Opening my eyes, my gaze rested on Nicoles bed, neatly made by Mum with its floral print duvet and pillows. As I remembered all the nights we had snuggled up together for bedtime stories when we were younger and, later, to gossip, paint each others nails and watch movies on her TV, I began to sob quietly.

I miss you, Nicole, I said quietly in the darkness, my heart aching.

I knew Mum and Dad were probably wide awake in their bedroom too, but they had their own grief to cope with, and I didnt want them to hear me. I wanted to be alone in these hours, before the sun rose on what was going to be the hardest day of my life.

I dont know why I switched on her computer, or what I hoped to find. Stuck indoors so much because of her illness, the computer and internet had been a huge part of Nicoles life; her lifeline to the outside world. I suppose I hoped it would contain some last piece of her personality, more tangible than the memories in my mind, which I was terrified would fade.

Opening her Facebook account, I took a deep breath and began to read the hundreds of messages people had written on her profile page since her death a week before.

Big, salty tears rolled down my face at the outpourings of love for my sister.

Next, I looked through her photos, chuckling through my grief at a recent one shed taken of her two dogs, LouLou and Ralph, dressed up in clothes and jewellery. Comforted a little, but still consumed by this feeling there was something more of her there, I almost switched off the computer before spotting a document saved on the desktop.

My Wishes, it was called.

Puzzled, I opened it and began to read, starting to tremble as I scrolled down the list Nicole must have typed in secret. My heart was thumping so loudly I was sure Id wake everyone in the house as, one by one, I read my sisters wishes, hearing Nicoles voice in every single word: Climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower Ride a camel See the Northern Lights Get another tattoo it read.

Its a bucket list! I said out loud to myself, completely stunned.

But this was no ordinary bucket list, I realised these werent the things Nicole had wanted to do before she died. They were her dreams for when she could start to live properly for the first time. For the day when she received the lung transplant that would free her from the pain and illness of the cystic fibrosis that shed been born with.

That day had never come, however. She never got the transplant which would have transformed her life and had died exactly seven days ago, without fulfilling a single wish on her list.

Shed talked a lot about her life after a transplant, and all the things shed do when she was free of the disease, though Id had no idea shed actually compiled a list.

Burying my head in my hands, I cried angry tears that my sister had even had to write a list like this. She had been so desperate to live and enjoy life, and shed never been able to, robbed of her health by her lifelong disease. But then, quite suddenly, my tears stopped as my anger was replaced by an overwhelming feeling of determination.

Nicole hadnt fulfilled her dreams, but could I do that for her? Was this list our last bond as twins, the final step in the journey of our life together? Twenty-one years hadnt been enough, and nothing would change that, I knew. But perhaps knowing Id been able to at least make her dreams come true would give me some comfort in the years ahead without her.

Looking at the framed photo by her bed of us at our eighteenth birthday party three years earlier, our arms around one another, smiling at the camera, I made a promise there and then to my sister: Ill make your wishes come true, Nicole, I whispered. Ill complete this list for you.

Just like that, I wasnt a twin anymore It broke my heart that I hadnt been able to save her, but I could keep a part of her alive by finishing what shed started

The bond between twins is so strong it can never be broken even in death. When Melissa lost her twin sister Nicole at just 21, she wondered how she would carry on without her soul mate. Her other half. The fun-loving, courageous girl who had always been by her side. Determined not to let Nicoles illness destroy them both, Melissa vowed to complete the bucket list her sister had written but never completed. From do a bungee jump and fart loudly in a lift, to go dancing in rain and get married, the list includes items that are at times deeply touching, challenging, or downright ridiculous.

My Sisters Wishes is the moving story of an extraordinary love between two extraordinary sisters.

Melissa Tennant grew up in Drumoyne, Glasgow, with her twin sister Nicole and their three other siblings. A close-knit family, they were devastated when Nicole finally lost her long battle with cystic fibrosis after years in and out of hospital. Since her death, the family has been heavily involved in charity fundraising in Nicoles memory.

Action! I shouted, pointing the camcorder at Nicole.

Clutching a hairbrush in her hand like a microphone, wearing her favourite Cinderella slippers, she twirled around on her bed. Ill tell you what I want, what I really, really want she sang confidently, flicking her clear plastic feeding tube over her shoulder as if it were a trendy fashion accessory.