Big-hearted parents donate brain-dead son's organs

BANGALORE: Praveen (name changed), 21, died in a road accident last week. His large-hearted parents, however, ensured he lives on by donating his vital organs.
A fifth-semester engineering student of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology in Hebbal, bike-borne Praveen was heading to his college from his RT Nagar house when he collided with a truck near Hebbal on September 10.
He sustained grievous head injuries and was rushed to MS Ramaiah Hospital. But he couldn't survive and was declared brain dead on September 15. With the consent of his parents, his organs were harvested on September 16 and transplanted the same day.
One of Praveen's kidneys and corneas were given to matching donors in MS Ramaiah Hospital itself. His liver was used on a patient in HCG Hospital and heart valve sent to Narayana Health City. The second kidney was sent to a recipient in Manipal Hospital.
Praveen's father works in West Asia while the mother works with LIC, Bangalore. "No one should experience such tragedies. But when they occur, families can do a lot to society by donating organs. Despite their grief, the parents said they want to donate his organs," said Dr Naresh Shetty, president and senior professor, MS Ramaiah Medical College and Hospital.
Heart couldn't be harvested! !Dr Shetty regretted that Praveen's heart went waste as they could not find a matching recipient in Karnataka, Kerala or Tamil Nadu in the required window of time.
"The harvesting of organs began at 2am on Tuesday. Had we waited long to find a recipient for the heart, we could not have harvested and transplanted other organs," said Manjula KU, chief transplant coordinator, Zonal Coordination committee of Karnataka for Transplantation (ZCCK).
Incidentally, on September 3, the heart of a 30-year-old brain dead woman, Manjula, was harvested and airlifted for a recipient in Chennai through a green corridor.
"Praveen's lungs had reached saturation level, because he was on ventilator since September 10. Otherwise, his lungs too could have been harvested and we would have had the first lung transplant in Karnataka," sources told TOI.