Selfless accident victim inspires girl's kin to donate her organs

Inspired by 27-year-old Harish Nanjappa, who asked bystanders to donate his organs even as his body was cut in half following a ghastly road accident last week, the family of an 18-year-old brain-dead girl has donated her organs.

The girl, Sanjana alias Sanju, gave a new lease of life to four people with the donation of her heart, liver, kidneys and eyes. The girl, who hailed from Hassan, was a student at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering in Mysuru. She had met with an accident while riding pillion on a motorcycle with her friend near KRS dam near Mysuru on February 21.

She suffered serious head injuries when a two-wheeler coming in the opposite direction hit her motorcycle. She was rushed to Apollo BGS Hospitals in Mysuru and then to Nimhans, Bengaluru. “Doctors told us that her condition was critical and that nothing could be done about it. We decided to take her back to Hassan,” said Chethan, her sister’s husband. “Her parents were moved by the accident in Nelamangala where the dying man was wishing to donate his organs. They decided to donate her organs, too.”

The family then contacted the Zonal Co-ordination Committee of Karnataka for Organ Transplantation and gave its consent to donate her organs.

Sanjana was shifted to the BGS Global Hospitals in Bengaluru at 12.15 pm on Thursday and her organs were retrieved. The retrieved heart was then taken to Narayana Health, Hosur Road, via a green corridor. Meanwhile, her liver and a kidney were simultaneously transplanted into a 44-year-old woman from Bengaluru who was suffering from end-stage liver disease and a kidney failure. The recipient was on haemodialysis.

Sanjana’s corneas were sent to Narayana Nethralaya. The other kidney was taken to Victoria Hospital for transplant into another patient.

Emotions ran high at BGS Global Hospitals when Sanjana’s father, Eerappa, stepped in front of the vehicle carrying her heart and kneeled down with folded hands. “My daughter was of the generous kind. She always helped the needy and lent money to the poor,” he said. “We thought, when she is no more, at least her organs should be of use to others.”
DH News Service

Another man gets liver transplant as intended recipient takes ill

Surgeons at Apollo Hospitals here had to work under an extremely tight deadline after being alerted at the last minute about the availability of a donor liver in what turned out to be the second organ transplant in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Hospitals get alerts about 10 hours ahead of the transplant to plan the procedure, but that was not the case at Apollo Hospitals on Bannerghatta Road. On Thursday, a donor liver was flown from Mangaluru to Bengaluru and taken to Manipal Hospitals on Old Airport Road for transplant. But the recipient there took ill and, in a last-minute move, the liver was taken to Apollo Hospitals for transplant.

Dr Mahesh Gopasetty, transplant surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, said they were alerted about the donor liver at 7.30 am. “We quickly activated our system to see if we had a suitable recipient. We had one, and he was called in at 8 am. Since he hails from Salem, we arranged an ambulance for him from Krishnagiri to ensure that he reaches in time,” Dr Gopasetty told Deccan Herald. Ideally, the liver should be transplanted within eight to ten hours. “The procedure was over in nine hours,” he added.

The liver is that of a 21-year-old brain-dead boy, Vineeth Raj. It was retrieved at AJ Institute of Medical Sciences there. It was then flown to Bengaluru and zipped on a green corridor to Manipal Hospitals and later to Apollo Hospitals.

The recipient is a 50-year-old man who suffered from Cryptogenic Liver Disease and liver cancer. He was awaiting transplant for the past six months.
DH News Service