Then her mobile telephone rang.

And that changed everything.

"I thought 'before I get on the plane I should answer it', and it was the doctor," Mrs Hill said.

"He said don't get on the plane.

"The operation had been called off."

Devastated, Mrs Hill had to get her bag off the plane and call a friend who drove her into Wagga where she caught a bus back to Coolamon.

Instead of undergoing the transplant operation on Thursday night, Mrs Hill was back at home wondering about what might have been.

"It's just one of those things that happens, I fully understand," Mrs Hill said.

Five hours before the operation was cancelled, Mrs Hill received a telephone call from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital saying she had seven hours to get to Sydney for the transplant.

The Coolamon community fund provided emergency financial assistance for Mrs Hill's airfare to Sydney and taxi charges to get to the hospital.

So within the space of less than a day she experienced a full range of emotions from overwhelming excitement to devastation.

On the positive side, Mrs Hill remains on top of the list for a transplant, but she does not know when that might be.

"It could be a week, a month, two months, who knows," Mrs Hill said.

On Friday, Mrs Hill travelled to Wagga for another round of dialysis, something she thought on Thursday would be a thing of the past by now.

"I went to dialysis and they said 'what are you doing here?' and I said 'I'm back to haunt you'," Mrs Hill said with a brave laugh.

"You have to have a good attitude."

QantasLink has arranged for Mrs Hill's plane ticket to be valid for 12 months.