After their 29 years old son Ravi Kapoor was declared brain dead, Kapoor family from Derabassi was left with a decision that no one wants to make. Should Ravi become an organ donor?
“In the midst of their grief, they said yes to organ donation. They were able to look beyond their own pain, so that no other parent would have to feel the depth of loss that they were experiencing,” said Prof. Vipin Koushal, nodal officer, ROTTO (NORTH) PGIMER while briefing about the latest case of deceased organ donation here in PGIMER.
Prof. Koushal said, “Through their selflessness and magnanimity, they turned their gravest tragedy into a precious ‘gift of life’ and ‘gift of sight’ for five others here in PGIMER with the transplantation of liver, kidneys and corneas.”
Ravi Kapoor had suffered profound head injuries in a freak accident after his scooter was hit by a stray animal on the intervening night of July 13 and 14 on the outskirts of Derabassi. Immediately, the family and friends rushed fatally injured Ravi to local Civil Hospital from where he was taken to Govt. Medical College, Sector 32 here.
Ravi’s condition being precarious, he was referred to PGIMER and was admitted here on the morning of July 14. However, the inevitable had to happen as Ravi could not be retrieved from his critical condition and was declared brain-dead on July 17 after duly following the protocols of THOA, Prof Koushal said.
Even in this darkest hour and amid his own grief, the father Kuldeep Kapoor along with other family members showed exceptional courage by consenting to donate the organs of his young son when the option of organ donation was flagged to him by the Transplant coordinator on duty in PGIMER, he said.
“Our tragedy is too gruesome for words. We don’t want to focus on Ravi being gone or how he died. We want to focus on the positive, and that’s what organ donation has taught us to do. It seems Ravi’s life had a purpose. His mortal journey has ended because others were to live because of him through organ donation,” said Kuldeep Kapoor after he signed for organ donation of his deceased son.
“Despite being no more, his legacy is living on by helping five others continue with their lives, and their parents and all the lives that are being touched as a result”, added the grieving but proud father of the donor Ravi Kapoor.
Following the family’s decision for organ donation, the transplant surgeons retrieved liver and kidneys from the donor, which on transplantation, gave second chance at life to three terminally ill organ failure patients. Two other corneal blind patients will get their eye sight restored with the transplantation of retrieved corneas of the donor. This way, five lives have been impacted with this 15th deceased organ donation of 2019 here in PGIMER, Prof. Koushal added.
