would you do it?

so i was bustling about the kitchen (i've been in a cooking frame of mind the last few days) listening, as is my habit, to the cbc. as it happens did a brief article regarding a new push by the transplant society in bc - i guess what they are doing now is looking for living, healthy, kidney donors. you go in, they cut you open, they put it in someone else. you are in hospital for a week, and have about 6-8 weeks of recovery time. this is, of course, assuming that you can find a surgeon willing to perform the operation (sort of goes against that whole 'not knowingly causing harm' oath).

would you do it? would you do it for a family member? i'd actually cut out my heart if i thought it would save calvin's life, but then he's my son. would i give a kidney to a stranger? in theory, it's easy to be altruistic and say yes. in practice, however, there are deeper implications - the least of which being that you will only have one, which could, presumably, fail some day. what if, 30 years down the road, your spouse, sister or child needed that kidney? what if you suffered complications and ended up with a life threatening condition or even died?

it's a hard question. it's not like volunteering to serve christmas dinner to the homeless, or giving money to charity. this is seriously life-altering. would you do it?