Will it hurt some people: yea. Can you live without them? Unless it is a child, I don’t think it matters much, a lot of people are looking for an excuse, anyone that leaves has the potential to bring with them a lot of people.
After I left, I know a lot of others did too and within a year or so all the congregations in the building merged into a single one. I have an extended family of over 30 people that were raised JW, pioneers, the only one left is my grandmother (the one that started it all in the 1950s) who has now cut herself off completely, it was over 30 years ago since my aunt was the weak one that left “to do immorality” and to get to me the last one that left about 10 years ago, but all of us are free now, took about 20 years.