Three years ago, the Balclutha woman went through an exhaustive set of tests in a bid to give a long-time friend a kidney he badly needed, but an adverse tissue reaction eventually ended her hopes.
Now, Ms Blair is still keen to offer her kidney for a suitable recipient, but says the Government needs to help by making it more financially appealing for prospective donors.
Last Friday was World Kidney Day, but she believes hardly anyone would have known. Public awareness about donors was at an all-time low, she said.
She has written to her local MP, Bill English, to highlight her concerns and call for a national database.
‘‘If donating a kidney will save the Government potentially $1 million in the long term, six weeks of income support of $1080 is a paltry sum by way of recompense,'' she said in the letter.
The Government has previously rejected calls for increasing benefit payments for donors who have to spend about six weeks off work, recovering from the operation.
The average donor receives the equivalent of the sickness benefit ($178.49 weekly) during this time, but Ms Blair said that barely covered their rent or mortgage payments.
Donors should, at the very least, receive a wage subsidy for financial losses incurred for doing something for the better good, she said.
‘‘The pittance a prospective donor would receive from the Government is nothing short of insulting. This surely does not encourage anyone to take the estimated six weeks of recovery time off work, to relieve overworked hospitals and staff [of] the increasing number of people requiring dialysis.''
Her friend, who she tried to help three years ago, requires regular dialysis and travels to Dunedin for treatment. His quality of life is poor but the incentive for people to help someone like him was not there either, Ms Blair said.
Dialysis patients were not trying to ‘‘rip off the system'' and she suspected they would dearly love to be able to return to a normal life instead of being tethered to a machine they relied on to survive.
The donation of one kidney to one person has been estimated to potentially save the Government $1 million in costs over that person's lifetime.
