An AUTO DRIVER GAVE HIS HEART & SECOND LIFE TO A HOMEMAKER, QUITE LITERALLY

Bengaluru: It was like any usual Wednesday morning which proved a special day for a 47-year-old woman who got her second life because of the heart of a 23-year-old brain dead autorickshaw driver.

On May 29th Abhishek of Ramanagara suffered head injuries when a mini-truck hit his auto. He was admitted to Nimhans and was later sent to the Victoria Hospital trauma centre before he was finally shifted to the PMSSY hospital on Tuesday.

PMSSY declared Abhishek brain dead, and requested consent of his family to donate his vital organs – eyes, liver, heart and kidneys – which were harvested on Wednesday morning.

Abhishek’s heart was transported to MS Ramaiah Narayana Heart Centre near Mathikere where it was transplanted to the homemaker. At 10.33am the beating heart left Victoria Hospital on the green corridor created by police and assisted by the medical staff, from KR Market to New BEL Road, covering a distance of about 11km. It took 14 minutes for heart to reach it’s new destination.

Dr Girish, special officer, PMSSY said, “Apart from his heart, the liver was found suitable for donation to a needy patient in PMSSY hospital,” he said. Abhishek’s gave life to more patients in the Nephro-Urology Institute of Victoria campus and Manipal Hospital who received a kidney each, while the eyes were sent to Lion’s Club.

The heart recipient was a woman was suffering from Dilated Cardio Myopathy (DCM), a severe left ventricular dysfunction. “The past two years have been tough for my family when my mother was unwell. She underwent an angiogram and was found to be suffering from a heart ailment. She was unable to even walk as she would be breathless and get fatigued. I’m glad she’ll be able to lead a normal life once she recovers. I believe the the donor was a young auto driver. It’s a great decision by his family to save someone else’s life, I’m indebted to them,” said the recipient’s only son to news reporters. He was eagerly waiting outside the operation theatre in the afternoon.

“Heart transplant is emerging as the standard treatment for end-stage heart disease with no hope of living a normal life. Now, Bengaluru is emerging as a destination for management of heart failures and transplant,” said Dr Nagamallesh UM, heart failure and transplant cardiologist, MS Ramaiah Narayana Heart Centre, reported the Times of India.

The article first published on www.lafdatv.com