Ahmedabad: In an exemplary decision, the family members of a 14-year-old braindead boy from Surat donated his hands and other organs, giving a new lease of life to many new people in the process.
Dharmik Kakadia, a class 10 student and resident of Katargam in Surat, was admitted to Kiran hospital on October 27 after sudden vomiting and high blood pressure. CT scan revealed swelling in the brain and blood clotting.
Dharmik, who was suffering from a kidney ailment for five years and was waitlisted for a kidney transplant, was declared brain dead on October 29.
After being counselled by members of Donate Life, a Surat-based organisation working for organ donation, Dharmik’s family agreed to donate his hands and vital organs.
Dharmik’s hands were transplanted into a 32-year-old male patient from Pune in Mumbai’s Global Hospital. The patient had lost his hands three years back after suffering from an electric shock.
The Surat teenager’s liver was transplanted into a 35-year-old Patan resident at Zydus Hospital in Ahmedabad and heart into a 15-year-old Junagadh resident at CIMS Hospital in Ahmedabad. The lungs were transplanted into an Andhra Pradesh resident at Chennai’s MGM hospital. His corneas were donated to Lok Drishti Eye Bank in Surat.
Donation of hands is a rare occurrence, and this was only the 19th such instance in India. Donate Life president Nilesh Mandlewala said Dharmik is the youngest hand donor in the country. Incidentally, this is the second hand donation instance in Gujarat in a fortnight. On October 15, Nadiad resident Arun Prajapati’s hands were donated at the new civil hospital in Ahmedabad after he was declared braindead.
Donate Life has facilitated the donation of 960 organs and tissues, including 408 kidneys, 37 hearts, 22 lungs, 173 livers, eight pancreas, and 312 corneas, giving a new life to 879 persons.