system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Eli5 how a person can donate a kidney while alive and live the rest of their life with one kidney...does this mean everyone looking for a transplant has 0 kidneys? Do we all only need 1?
gpt
Kind of! Typically the person who needs the new kidney has a type of kidney disease that affects both of the kidneys that they currently have.

So it might make sense to say that the recipient has no *working* kidneys. But anatomically, you generally wouldn't say that they have zero kidneys actually present in their body. typically the existing kidneys are not removed before the transplant.  


(Edit - and yes! Most people can live normal, healthy lives with just one kidney!)