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There's some things money can't buy.
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We don't like the idea of treating parts of the body as commodities.
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As beautiful a sentiment as altruism is,
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it just isn't enough.
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People have two kidneys
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situated on the back, behind the ribcage,
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they look more or less like a bean.
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And kidneys are organs that filter waste material from the blood
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and process that into urine.
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They're extremely important, because if your kidneys are failing,
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you're collecting quite a bit of waste material
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which is detrimental for all other organ systems.
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A typical dialysis patient has a poorer life expectancy
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than many cancers.
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After decades of experimenting, in 1954 was the first
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successful human transplant, which revolutionised the field.
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My daughter was involved in a car accident.
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It was clear that her injuries weren't survivable.
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But Fi had let us know that, if anything had happened,
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she would want to give her organs.
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So when we arrived at the hospital and were given that devastating news,
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this felt like something that we could all get behind
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and for something positive to come out of such a sad time.
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I mean what an incredible legacy.
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Fi saved four people's lives on that day.
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In 2006 I went for a regular check-up and I felt fine,
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but the blood work that I got
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showed that my kidneys were in very, very bad shape.
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I had to either go on dialysis, hooked up to a machine
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for three to four hours a day, about three times a week,
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or I would have to try to find a donor.
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Lots of people still don't know
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that many people could actually donate a kidney.
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Removing one kidney should not affect someone's lifespan.
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And also should not affect someone's life quality.
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A kidney from a living donor in general
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will have a much better quality
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because it comes from a healthy and tested person.
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Kidneys are expected to survive up to twice as long on average
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in the recipient.
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I was lucky,
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I had two people who were willing to sacrifice a body part to me.
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It leaves you speechless with gratitude,
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but it also leaves you speechless with sorrow and anger
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that there are so many people
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who don't have friends or relatives who can give them a kidney
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and who die waiting for one to become available.
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So that's how I became very interested
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in our organ transplant system
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and how we should change it.
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No-one needs two kidneys,
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and there are many desperate people who need one.
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If they were compensated their lives could be improved
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at little cost to their health,
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while saving the life of someone else.
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The idea is to offer people an in-kind benefit,
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not cash,
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but maybe loan forgiveness, or a tuition voucher,
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or a contribution to their retirement account
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in exchange for a kidney.
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If I were a patient with failing kidneys,
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and I faced a short and miserable life,
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and I had the opportunity to buy a kidney,
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and was assured that the donor was being properly compensated,
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you bet I'd take that option.
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Currently it's not allowed to donate a kidney
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under any form of payment.
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We rely on the goodwill of people to help others.
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It's not the wealthy who would be wanting to sell their organs,
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it's people who are on the poverty line,
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in very desperate situations.
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And those people are also the most vulnerable people
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in terms of poor health in later life.
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Incentivising people to donate more
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is actually a way to starve black markets,
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it's not to recreate them,
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it's to undermine them.
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If you reward a person amply for the sacrifice they've made,
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something they go into with their eyes open and well informed,
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that's not exploitation.
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No-one really knows what will happen if you start doing this.
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Because even though personally I'm not necessarily fully against it,
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if it would drive people to donate,
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but the effect could be that it all becomes a business transaction.
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And that the more obvious donors
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may not donate because they will tell the recipient,
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"Oh, you can go and buy a kidney, right?"
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It might actually reduce the number of people that want to donate,
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because they don't want to be involved in such a scheme.
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All of a sudden, transplantation becomes...
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a thing that you can organise as long as you can pay for it.
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People are dreaming to build kidneys in the laboratory,
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bio-printed or 3D-printed organ structures,
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modified pig organs,
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so that's a revolution.
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This is the only way to solve the problem.
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It's so much needless death.
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It feels like an incredible gift,
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and I don't know how that gift can be quantified.
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When we're considering this policy option,
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most of us don't weigh the pros and cons,
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but often we're offended at the very idea.
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Selling kidneys is so immoral
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I can only liken it to the woman who goes out on the street
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and sells sex.
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It's an example of a secular taboo.
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In my view, the full potential of living donation
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has not yet been achieved without using money.
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Why are we not maximising deceased donation?
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We don't talk about our wishes.
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Research shows that most people would agree, after death,
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to organ donation.
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Yet we leave our loved ones wondering.
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Ideally, we could change the law
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but I would advocate that anyone consider donating, no matter what,
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because, save dragging someone out of a burning building
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or pulling them out of a frozen lake,
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where else could you save someone's life
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so palpably as this?