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Aussie 'free hugs guy' to donate kidney to stranger
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by Sanjay Jha | September 21, 2008 at 07:55 pm
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In this self centred world at the time when we are witnessing so much of violence, hatred and being carpet-bombed daily with messages of fear and disconnection.Everyone is running for their own life but Juan Mann is an odd guy standing on the street in Sydney offering "free hugs" to all passing strangers.
Despite several attempts to stall his "free hug" campaign, Mann and his friends continuted the campaign and finally the calls for a ban died away.
Continuing his good work Juanhas decided to donate his kidney to a stranger purely for humanitarian reasons.
An Australian man known around the world for giving free hugs to anyone who asks, is planning to go one step further by donating one of his kidneys to a stranger, a report said Sunday.
Juan Mann, who came to worldwide attention in 2004 after a video of him dispensing free hugs in Sydney's central business district appeared on YouTube, expects to undergo surgery next year.
"I am young, I am fit, I am healthy, I have two kidneys," the 26-year-old, who does not use his real name, told the Sun-Herald.
"I don't really drink. I don't need that second one and someone will be able to get out of hospital."
Mann will face psychiatric and physical tests in hospital before he can make the donation, the process of which will be filmed and later broadcast online, the paper said.
"I will never meet the (recipient); I will never know if the transplant is a success or a failure; I will never know if my kidney kills the person," Mann said.
"Apparently once you give your kidney you will never feel whole.
"(But) I'll get a cool scar and apparently chicks dig scars."
Mann, who spends about one day a week holding a 'FREE HUGS' sign above his head in Sydney's Pitt Street Mall, has inspired free hugs movements around the world.
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Sanjay Jha
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 21:40 on September 21st, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Thank you very much for this article! It was just what I needed, having just written about Troy Davis, the condemned Georgian who faces execution on Tuesday unless God intervenes. To come away from such morbid subject matter to read about Juan Mann was just what I needed to renew my confidence in the inate goodness that resides in the hearts of many people.
I am reminded by your article that all over the world there are people who have entered their names on various donor lists and they stand ready to give bone marrow to strangers. I have read of people like Mr. Mann before, who gave their kidneys to strangers. I am reminded of Frances Posel, a 43-year-old Bellevue reference librarian who gathered her courage and did what a small, but growing number of people around the country are doing: She donated one of her organs to a stranger. Her kidney went to a 51 year old man she never met. See her story: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/98730_corgans06.shtml
Folks like Juan and Frances renew my faith in people and make me more hopeful that Governor Perdue, of Georgia, and justices on our Supreme Court will do the right thing by Troy Davis and grant him a stay of execution pending a new trial.
Blessings,
Mary
at 02:17 on September 22nd, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.
This guy is an inspiration
at 02:21 on September 22nd, 2008
Sanjay Jha, I like this story. It's good stuff.