In another incredible gesture of Organ Donation at PGIMER
3 year old kindles hope for 3
In sync with his name, Anand was the picture of happiness itself – an adorable, vivacious and bubbly child whose smile would light up any room he walked into. Always upto something or the other, Anand had a spring in his feet. He was God’s greatest gift to us. Who could have imagined that a small fall from the stairs would snatch this bundle of joy from us forever,” said an incredibly courageous Rohit Kumar, father of 3 year old Anand Kumar from village Asron near Kurali, Punjab, after he consented to donate the organs of his brain dead son, which enabled saving lives of three end stage organ failure patients including one in New Delhi and two herein PGIMER.
Recalling the heartache of August 20, the father Rohit Kumar narrated how quickly a generally happy day changed into an unexpected and cruel tragedy. Like any other usual day, Anand was busy playing with kids from the neighbourhood and while running after another kid, he slipped suddenly and rolled over a flight of stairs and became unconscious.
Immediately, an unconscious Anand was first taken to a nearby hospital in Kurali and then rushed to Govt. Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh, from where he was referred to PGIMER. The family got critically ill Anand admitted in PGIMER on the evening of 20th August itself. However, Anand’s battle with life came to an end as he succumbed to his injuries and was declared brain dead yesterday evening following the protocols of THOA.
In another incredible gesture of Organ Donation at PGIMER
Despite their irreparable loss, the brave heart parents of Anand Kumar made sure that their child relives in others by consenting for his organ donation when the transplant coordinators proposed to them about this noble act at PGIMER. “There are no words to describe someone being in our position,” said Rohit Kumar. “I was thinking if we could save someone else from going through this, then let’s do it. Knowing that Anand’s life will go on in others and will give them more days with their families is so rewarding.”
Detailing about the case, Prof. (Dr.) Vipin Koushal, Nodal Officer, ROTTO PGIMER shared, “As Anand’s parents wanted their child to relive in others, it became our moral duty as well to respect their wish. After completing the formalities for transplant, we secured his liver and kidneys. The cross matching indicated that there was no matching recipient for liver in PGIMER. So, we immediately got in touch with NOTTO (National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization) to explore options with other transplant hospitals for matching recipient and finally liver was allocated to ILBS, New Delhi with the intervention of NOTTO.”
Prof. (Dr.) Koushal further elaborated, “It was literally a race against time. There being no flight for Delhi from Chandigarh after 6 pm, we had to complete all the procedural formalities, harvesting process as well as transportation of the organ to International Airport within a huge time crunch for the Jet Airways flight scheduled for 4.45 pm. But hats off to the exemplary coordination and commendable efforts of the PGIMER teams involved in maintaining the donor and retrieval of organs, Chandigarh & Mohali Police and Airport Security and Jet Airways staff on duty that we accomplished in making it on time through green corridor and enabled saving life of a 3 year old terminally ill girl at ILBS, New Delhi. The harvested kidneys were transplanted in a 4 year old and a 24 year old PGIMER patients, thereby giving them both a second lease of life and ending their losing battle for survival.
Expressing his gratitude to the donor family, Dr Koushal stated, “It is an extremely hard decision. But families like that of deceased Anand who have the heart to make an offer in the most tragic moments of their life definitely instil a sense of confidence and provide a ray of hope to the ever increasing wait-listed recipients
