Great-grandmother donates kidney to save four-year-old great-granddaughter

Bridging a huge generation gap, a 70-year-old great-grandmother donated one of her kidneys to her four-year-old great-granddaughter giving her a new lease of life.

This is an exceptional case where the transplant spans four generations.

The child -- Aizah Tanvir Qureshi -- was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease resulting from a condition known as Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), and a kidney transplant was urgently needed to save her.

The transplant procedure was successfully carried out at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) on November 25 by the transplant team led by Dr. Sharad Sheth, Consultant & Head - Nephrology, KDAH.

After an uneventful recovery, both donor and patient were discharged, the KDAH said on Friday.

“The patient is the only child of her parents. When she came to our hospital, she had facial swelling since six months, which had increased in recent weeks along with poor appetite, nausea and vomiting. She was found to have severely deranged renal function along with metabolic acidosis. She was immediately put on hemodialysis and a kidney transplant was needed,” Dr Sheth.

In his 40 years of practice, this was perhaps the most unique transplant considering the age and relationship of the donor and the recipient.

In the entire family of the patient, the 70-year-old great-grandmother Rabiya Banu M H Ansari was the only match. Also, she was healthy and her blood group was compatible with the patient.

After a thorough assessment and investigation considering her age, she was evaluated as fit for donation. After the successful transplant, both the donor and recipient are doing well. The great-grandmother was discharged on the fifth day. The patient’s kidney function tests showed an improvement and she was discharged on the 14th day.

The team under Dr Sheth included Dr Sanjay Pandey, Head, Andrology and Reconstructive Urology, Dr Attar Mohammad Ismail, Consultant, Urology and Renal Transplant Surgeon and team.

“It was very painful to see our little Aizah undergo hours of hemodialysis almost every alternate day. We are grateful to the KDAH for giving her an opportunity to lead a normal life like other kids. Her maternal granny came as the saviour of my child,” said the child's grateful parents, Nazneen, a housewife, and Tanvir Qureshi, a businessman.