Brain-dead teen's family donates his liver, kidneys

 A brain-dead 17-year-old boy gave new lease of life to three individuals to whom his organs were donated.

The family of Sridhar Gowda, a native of Tumakuru who was doing his second PUC at Sarvodaya College, agreed to harvest his liver, kidneys, cornea and heart valve.

While his liver was donated to a 63-year-old man, the kidneys have been given to two men, aged 26 and 55. His cornea were harvested at Narayana Nethralaya.

The teenager's brother-in-law Shivaramaiah said the family was aware of organ donation and his parents agreed after counselling.

On January 12, Sridhar was riding pillion with his father Muthurayappa on the Kunigal-Tumakuru highway when their bike collided head-on with the vehicle of a drunken rider near Kallupalya gate.

An ambulance was called to rush Sridhar, who had suffered head injuries, to the Kunigal government hospital. He was later taken to Sparsh Hospital in Yeshwantpur.

"We were told that the boy had lost consciousness when the ambulance reached Nelamangala," said Dr R Chinnadurai, HOD and chief consultant, department of accident and emergency, Sparsh.

On performing a CT scan, doctors found blood clots in Sridhar's brain and an MRI scan revealed further injuries. "Though he was out of ventilator for a day, his brain began collapsing," Dr Chinnadurai said.

Sridhar was once again shifted to Aster CMI Hospital, where he was declared brain-dead.

No oxygen facility  

Chikkamalalawadi gram panchayat member Manjunath, who shifted Sridhar from the accident spot to the hospital, said the vehicle that took the teenager to Sparsh from Kunigal did not have oxygen facility - the reason for Sridhar to fall unconscious when the ambulance was crossing Nelamangala.

In their haste to shift Sridhar, Manjunath said the authorities did not check if the ambulance had oxygen.

"Had he been given oxygen, he would have survived," he said.  

DH News Service