People I know thought this was a silly idea, but I was ready to die for a stranger

George Cannon had just turned 23. He was on the operating table "getting cut up".

The young man, in his own words, was 'ready to die'. He'd seen a post on social media when he was 18, and it was something that had stuck with him ever since.

Many of his loved ones "thought it was a silly idea", George admitted. But the young man said he was fully prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for somebody he had never even met.

George, from Kent, was undergoing surgery to donate a kidney to a little girl. Now 24, he says the selfless act boosted his confidence as a young man.

The social media post was from someone who had donated a kidney, and felt it was "really nice" of the donor. George, who is studying to be a chartered accountant, said the idea "stuck with" him, and by September 2023, having

Despite experiencing some discomfort after the procedure and saying some of the medication "didn’t sit well" with him, he feels he is now as fit and healthy as ever, exercising five times a week.

In April 2024, George received two cards – one from the "little girl" who received his left kidney, and another from her parents saying "thank you, we’ve got our little girl back". George is now on a mission to highlight the need for more living kidney donors in the UK – and he said if he can convince one person to donate "it would make it all even more worth it".

"It was just the idea of helping someone that much," George told PA Real Life. "A lot of these people haven’t done it to themselves – my kidney went to a little girl who’s done nothing at all wrong."

"It’s not a risk free surgery because none of them are, and I was ready to go into that for someone I’d never met – that puts a lot of things into perspective and does build confidence."