A lot of people out there are probably hoping that April Capone Almon’s generosity with her Facebook friends is not the gold standard of Facebook friendship. Ms Capone is the mayor of the town of East Haven, Connecticut, a town of 30,000, and has 1,600 Facebook friends. When she saw that one of them, a constituent whom she barely knew, Carlos Sanchez, had posted a request for a kidney on his Facebook page, she volunteered. Mr Sanchez was in kidney failure because of diabetes and none of his family or friends were a match. Tests proved that she was and the operation went ahead on April 6.

"I don't want people to see this as something larger than life," Ms Capone said. "There's nothing special about me. Anybody can try to do this, and if it's meant to be, you'll be a match and a donor and you can really help someone."

Although Ms Capone, a Democrat, was running for mayor at the time, she kept her plans for kidney donation a secret until the operation. ~ AP, Apr 22