Virginia Postrel has decided to donate a kidney to her friend Sally Satel:

Last fall, my friend Sally Satel wrote about the issue in general and her own search for a kidney donor. Between the time she wrote the article and the time it appeared in the NYT, I heard about her situation and volunteered as a donor. Our tissues turned out to be unusually compatible for nonrelatives and, when her Internet donor dropped out, I moved from backup to actual donor. We have our surgeries tomorrow morning.

As surgeries go, the procedure is safe and straightforward--far more so than people think. A donor can live a completely normal life with one kidney. The recipientis not so lucky, since a foreign organ requires a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs. But that's a lot better than the alternative.

The donor's experience isn't exactly a breeze, either, so don't let Virginia sell her courage short. With arthroscopic surgery, it's a lot easier than it used to be; the previous surgical procedure required an incision almost from navel to spine. Now the recovery time is much shorter and the complications have diminished greatly ... but it still has its risks and a significant amount of time before the donor gets back to 100%.

On behalf of those who themselves or their loved ones need transplants, thank you, Virginia, and our prayers are with you and your friend. (via Instapundit)

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