Live organ donors a rarity in Canada
Most Canadians support the idea of organ donation in theory, but few make actual plans. One Canadian woman has gone the extra mile, donating a kidney to a complete stranger last Christmas Eve.
Think you're a good Secret Santa? This kidney donor has you beat
It's easy to talk about the kindness of strangers. But how far would you really go to show kindness to a stranger?
Annemieke Vanneste has gone further than most Canadians would. She donated a kidney to a complete stranger, after seeing how a transplant changed the life of her sister's friend. Vanneste underwent the operation last year on Christmas Eve.
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"I said, 'Can you ever get a better Secret Santa gig than to give somebody a kidney?'" she told the CBC's Reg Sherren.
Just don't call her special.
"I don't see any of that," she said. "I only know that I changed somebody's life."
To see more of Vanneste's acts of kindness and the new, urgent medical case that's affected her own family, click on the video above.