Oscar-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg says he is going to be donating one of his kidneys to a complete stranger.
Eisenberg made the announcement Thursday morning on NBC’s “Today” show. The 42-year-old “Zombieland” and “The Social Network” star said he plans to have the surgery in mid-December and called the decision a "no-brainer."
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"I don't know why," he said. "I got bitten by the blood donation bug. I'm doing an altruistic donation [in] mid-December. I'm so excited to do it."
An altruistic donation is the act of donating an organ — such as a kidney — to a stranger with which you have no prior relationship with. Most of the roughly 100,000 people on the national organ transplant list are waiting for a kidney, according to federal data.
"It's essentially risk-free and so needed," Eisenberg told TODAY.com. "I think people will realize that it's a no-brainer, if you have the time and the inclination."
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"Let's say person X needs a kidney in Kansas City, [and] their child or whoever was going to donate to them is, for whatever set of reasons, not a match, but somehow I am," Eisenberg added. "That person can still get my kidney and hopefully that child of that person still donates their kidney, right? But it goes to a bank where that person can find a match recipient, but it only works if there is basically an altruistic donor."
