Almost a year after receiving a kidney, Virginia Blatchford sang her heart out for organ donation.The Luv Train singer, from Ladysmith, just got back from a Kidney Foundation benefit concert in Vancouver.“It was really amazing,” she said. “It was fun.”The singer joined 1970’s crooner, Susan Jacks, on stage to sing the final number, I need a hero.“We had a big choir and it was a very powerful song,” she said.Blatchford received her kidney from a live donor last June, Jacks is also a kidney recipient.“Susan and I were lucky enough to have people come forward for us,” she said. “Not everyone is so lucky.”Blatchford said more people need to be aware of the importance of organ donation.“In B.C., there’s a six-year waiting list for a kidney transplant,” she said. “Some people just don’t make it.”She said only about 17 per cent of British Columbians sign an organ donation card.“That’s the really hard part and that’s why people are waiting.”She said people can go online and sign up.“Everyone can be a hero and save up to eight lives by signing the donor card.”She said the benefit concert was an amazing success and at the end, donors and recipients came on stage.“We’re alive because somebody has given us that chance.”The concert was held at the Red Robinson Show Theatre in Vancouver, Sunday, April 17 at 7 p.m.
