IEP Chandigarh
“Since our son, all of 19, met with the fatal accident on 10th June, we were at his bedside praying for a miracle to happen. But who could have imagined that our dear son was to be the miracle? He became a miracle to all those who got another chance at life because of my son’s organ donation,” stated the grief-stricken but brave-heart father, who wanted to keep his identity anonymous due to his personal sentiments, as he was being handed over the mortal remains of his deceased son at the mortuary at PGIMER. As a result of the incredible decision taken in their darkest hour, the donor family from Punjab gave a new lease of life to three terminally ill organ failure patients with the transplantation of heart to a matching recipient admitted in a hospital in New Delhi. The second recipient turned out lucky to get the renal transplant and the third recipient was given a fresh lease of life with Simultaneous Liver and Kidney transplant, this being the 3rd Simultaneous Liver Kidney Transplant by PGIMER. Prof. Vivek Lal Director PGIMER, while paying rich tributes to the donor family, stated, “Life after death” merely sounds unrealistic until the organ donation gave it a meaning. Cadaver organ donation is the epitome of magnanimity considering the donor family’s act of courage and generosity to put their own grief aside and make a difference in the lives of others. This noble act of the family is praiseworthy and should motivate others.” The heart-wrenching and tragic death of a young donor from Punjab is beyond comprehension and extremely difficult to reconcile with. It was on 10th June, when, the two-wheeler driven by the donor skidded and the donor lost balance, his head hitting against the road, leaving him with grievous head injuries. Immediately, the critically injured youth was rushed to a local hospital and then shifted to PGIMER but all the efforts proved futile and the donor could not be revived and subsequently was declared brain dead on 13th June here in PGIMER. After the declaration by the brain death certification committee, the transplant coordinators at PGIMER approached the donor’s father to request if he could consider organ donation. Expressing his sentiments, the distressed father said, “We did not know anything about organ donation. But once we understood that our decision can help saving many lives, we decided to go ahead. The only thought in our minds was that our decision may turn lucky for someone else and they get more time to spend with their dear one.” Following the father’s consent, the heart, both kidneys and liver were harvested from the deceased. Once the donor organs became available, everyone swiftly got into action. As the cross-matching indicated no matching recipient for the heart in PGIMER, immediately ROTTO (North) got in touch with other transplant hospitals to explore options for matching recipients, and finally, the heart was allocated for a 55-year-old male matching recipient with refractory heart failure admitted in a private hospital in New Delhi with the intervention of NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation).”Prof. Vipin Koushal, Medical Superintendent, PGIMER & Nodal Officer ROTTO (North) further elaborated, “To ensure safe and speedy transport of the harvested heart, a Green Corridor was created in conjunction with the retrieval timings from PGIMER to Technical AirPort Chandigarh for the transportation of retrieved heart for the onward flight to Delhi at around 12.55 pm on 14th June.” At PGIMER, the retrieved liver and one kidney of the donor were transplanted simultaneously to another 55-year-old male patient suffering from simultaneous kidney and liver failure and was able to sustain his life with support dialysis. The second retrieved kidney was successfully transplanted to a 50-year-old male renal failure patient here in PGIMER. With this, the exemplary courage and magnanimity of the donor family gave the greatest gift anyone can give – the ‘gift of life’ to 3 terminally ill organ failure patients, one admitted to Delhi hospital and two here in PGIMER.
