As living renal donors face a unique decision of self-sacrifice that is not without risk, there is an ethical imperative for health professionals to understand the donors' perspective. The findings presented in this paper contribute to this area by documenting living renal donors' expectations of quality of life and longevity for the recipient, post-transplant. The longitudinal study involved an open-ended, explorative, qualitative, methodological approach, involving interviews with 20 (n=20) living kidney donors at four points in time over two years. The findings in this paper are from the first interview prior to the donation surgery. The findings on the donors' expectations for the recipients' future were predominantly characterised by a tension between an enthusiastic optimism and a realistic awareness of the medical problems associated with the kidney disease and transplantation. In terms of the immediacy of the transplant operation, the donors expressed high hopes of success combined with an informed understanding of the possibility of rejection. The donors interviewed expressed an acceptance of such risks. The important longitudinal finding is that the cohort demonstrated an ongoing high level of satisfaction with their decision making. Consequently, the findings on the living renal donors' perception about the recipients' quality of life and longevity can be viewed as reflecting an appropriately screened and satisfied group of donors.