30 November 2019
Newsdesk
The 45-year-old singer recently made an emotional appeal for help after revealing that his dad, Colonel Charles Blount, has kidney disease and needs a new organ from someone from the O-positive group but neither James nor his sister are a match.
James told the Daily Express newspaper: "I wanted to give my father one of my kidneys but I wasn’t a match. He needs it as soon as possible and he’s on a waiting list. I’ve been saying in interviews he has been waiting for a kidney and, remarkably, two people have now come forward.
"“It’s incredible of them to do so, and we’re hoping they might be a match. Things are proceeding in the right direction and I don’t know the answer yet but we’re keeping positive – touch wood!
“It would be the best Christmas present if we were to find the right donor but, for now, it’s in the hands of the professionals. My father is being looked after incredibly well by the doctors on the NHS.
“They’ve been amazing. In fact their attention has been mind-blowing. It’s hard to come to terms with but I have a new family and so I see the circle of life playing out in front of me.
“If anything, it has brought me even closer to my family because you see that you don’t have much time, or as much time as you would like, with a parent."
James previously revealed that Charles, 73, discovered his illness after taking a blood pressure test and James - who joined the army in 1996 and rose to the rank of captain before leaving in 2002 - wrote his new track 'Monsters' for his dad.
He said: "'Monsters' is for my father, who’s awaiting a kidney transplant.
"I played the song at the Festival of Remembrance in the Royal Albert Hall in front of the Queen, members of the Armed Forces, bereaved families from the Afghan and Iraq campaigns and my father.
"The reaction since has been so amazing, so I’m releasing this song in the build-up to Christmas and giving the proceeds to Help For Heroes and The British Legion, who both do fantastic work for my former brothers and sisters in arms.”
