BRAVE Mike Edmunds insisted the show must go on - even when he realised it would delay his life-saving kidney transplant operation.

The Argus revealed last week how Mr Edmunds, 62, from Trinant, will undergo the operation after his devoted wife Jean, 57, discovered she was compatible and would donate one of her kidneys.

But the couple decided to delay the six-hour operation until March 12 at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, until after the annual charity panto they are involved in, to ensure it went ahead without a hitch.

Mr Edmunds is directing Alice in Memoland, which runs from tomorrow until February 25 at the Newbridge Memo in aid of Blackwood Cancer Care Line, where Mrs Edmunds works.

"We couldn't just not do the panto," explained Mr Edmunds, who has been involved in panto for 14 years, often playing the dame.

"Last year I directed for the first time and I'm directing again although I've needed a bit of help. It's going to be great."

Mrs Edmunds added: "Blackwood Cancer Care Line is desperate for funding and that's why we do the panto so the operation had to wait. We've raised about £10,000 over the years."

Mr Edmunds was first diagnosed with kidney problems in 1989. In January 2006, doctors told him he had kidney failure but after his body rejected a dialysis course, he was left needing a transplant. The waiting list can be over two years but Mrs Edmunds went for medical tests, discovered she was a match and put herself forward as a donor.