Rohit Kumar, 29-year-old, a resident of Sector 56 in Chandigarh, became an angel for those waiting for organ donation even in his death at PGIMER, here.
The family members of Rohit showed extreme courage when they consented to donate the organs of their dear one.
“It was extremely tough to say ‘yes’ to Organ Donation. We were going back and forth on our decision but finally we felt that it was the right thing to do,” shared Harnek Singh, the grief-stricken but gritty father of deceased Rohit Kumar, after consenting for organ donation.
“In fact, Organ Donation affirmed for us that saying ‘no’ would have been denying other people the chance for life and making their families undergo the same unbearable pain of losing their dear one which we are confronted with. Who would know more than us what it means. So we had to say ‘yes’ to Organ Donation,” reiterated Harnek Singh.
Rohit Kumar was admitted to GMCH Sector 32 following a freak accident on December 4 when his bike skidded leading to a sudden fall and thereby, a fatal head injury. The family shifted Rohit Kumar to PGIMER in an extremely critical condition.
But as luck would have it, Rohit’s condition worsened in the following days and became irretrievable. Assessing this, PGIMER’s internal committee, after meeting twice, found the parameters matching brain death and eventually, Rohit was declared brain dead in the evening of December 7.
In the meantime, transplant coordinators at the PGIMER apprised the deceased’s relatives of prospects of utilising his organs through donation for transplant to terminally ill organ failure patients. With the deceased’s father consenting to the proposal of Organ Donation, the departments concerned started reaching out to the matching recipients to honour the family’s decision.
Finally, the cross match of several potential recipients led to the identification of best matching recipients for the two kidneys and the transplant of both the kidneys was accomplished on December 8.
Briefing about the latest case of cadaver organ donation & transplantation, Dr Ashish Sharma, Head, Deptt. of Renal Transplant Surgery, PGIMER said, “In this case, the donor was marginal with his kidneys not functioning well at the time of death but these kidneys mostly recover in recipients in about 3-4 weeks time. Over the last four days, the recipients have recovered from surgery and kidneys are getting well perfused and are expected to recover their function in due course of time.”
Paying tributes to the donor family, Dr Ashok Kumar, Acting MS, PGIMER, said, “Every donor is unique and special as their mortal journey ends but they remain immortal in others. Rohit Kumar’s story shows the extraordinary difference a ‘yes’ by the donor family can make to the recipients and their families. I earnestly hope that the donor family’s courageous gesture inspires more people to say ‘yes’ to Organ Donation and help saving those dying, waiting for a transplant.”
