In death, Faridkot youth gives fresh lease of life to five

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 15

Five lives were impacted after the family of a youth, who met with a road mishap and was declared brain dead, donated his organs.

The youth was hit by a speeding two-wheeler from the opposite side while he was going on his motorcycle to work on June 4. After the mishap, he was rushed to the Civil Hospital in Faridkot. However, he was referred to the PGI and brought to the institute on June 6 in a precarious condition. He was declared brain dead on June 14.

After his family’s consent, heart, liver, kidneys and corneas were retrieved from the donor. As the cross-matching indicated no matching recipient for heart in the PGI here, options for matching recipients were explored with other transplant hospitals. Finally, heart was allocated to a matching recipient admitted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi.

Following this, the liver and kidneys retrieved from the donor, through transplantation of combined liver and kidney in one recipient and another kidney in the second recipient, enabled giving a fresh lease of life to two patients battling for survival in the PGI. This was the second liver-kidney combined transplant in the PGI. The first such transplant was conducted in 2018.

The retrieved corneas of the donor will restore the sight of two corneal blind patients.

Prof Vipin Koushal, Medical Superintendent, PGI, and Nodal Officer, Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (North), said the heart was airlifted post retrieval. A green corridor was created from the PGI to the Technical Airport, Chandigarh, with active cooperation and liasoning of the PGI security, the UT Administration and the police.”

PGI Director Prof Vivek Lal said, “Amid the tragic demise of one’s own family member, thinking beyond to save some strangers’ lives is unexpected and unimaginable. It is actually the selfless sacrifice of the donor families on which the organ transplant programme hinges. No words are enough to convey our gratitude to them.”

“We just want people to know about the cause and not who did it. We have done it so that our son lives through others. We have done it for our own peace and solace. We want people to realise that death is not the end of things. People can live on through others, through organ donation,” said the donor’s mother.

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