I have been following this story for some time. It is a totally outrageous story. The medical community, I would say for the most part, finds this unethical. Nonetheless, Canavero has gained some recognition from establishment medical institutions.
My take is:
This procedure has not really been successful in the past. The mice and monkeys that they tried it on only lived a short time after the procedure and we don't know what they experienced personally for obvious reasons. Valery Spridonov is a more adventurous soul than I. I think I would prefer to endure the disease as much as possible and then opt for suicide. A great deal is riding on the outcome of this operation, not only for Valery, but for science, medicine and the rest of humanity.
If this procedure were to succeed and Valery lived for a few years, I don't doubt that some multi-millionaires might do it too.