Vamsi Krishna: Me with my wife and daughter.

Today, I am alive and writing this post because of my donor. When I was on my death-bed on May 16, 2016, I got a call from ZCCK Bangalore saying a heart was available. I suffered from dilated cardio mayopathy for five years. I registered and waited for a heart for almost three months before I received. I consider myself very lucky. It has been six years post my heart-transplant and I’m happy with my family. I am the sole bread winner in the family. If no donor had come forward, I don’t know where my family, my 7-year-old daughter would be today. Post my heart transplantation, all my family members, relatives and friends have pledged their organs. If the government takes more initiative, more lives can be saved.

However, I must mention that life after transplantation is a costly affair. I will be on medication till my last breath, and have to make frequent visits to the hospital for check-ups. Sadly, there is no support from the government or any insurance company in covering these expenses. The government should at least extend tax rebates on transplant medicines and make some exemptions on the salaries we earn. Even subsidies, like the ones they offer for other diseases, would be of great help. More patients like me would come forward to either donate or receive organs.

Vikram Singh:

In a rare gesture, all officers and their families collectively pledged their organs on Unit Raising Day through Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (Aorta), C/O Army Hospital (R&R), New Delhi.

Prabir Datta: My mother’s body donation document

As per the wish of my mother, we have donated her full body to NSR Hospital, Kolkata, on 18th August, 2000. Also, me and my wife have donated all our organs to AIIMS. We are proud to be a part of your Organ Donation Campaign.

Shipra Singh:

“I lie on the narrow bed wrapped in green cloth. There are weird machines all around. Doctors and nurses start preparing for the surgery…” Hello, everybody! This is an excerpt from my book, ‘Dark Confessions of a Kidney Donor’. I am Shipra Singh, a proud kidney donor. I donated my kidney to my mother on July 7, 2014. My book shares my experience with the world. I am a web content writer. I live in Delhi. I am single and proud of my existence on earth. My mother gave life to me. God chose me to give life to her. I thank God for giving me this unique opportunity to save a life, that too, the life of my mother. I felt like a winner while being discharged from ICU. When I met my mother the first time after our transplantation surgeries she said, “I will always be grateful to you!” I was humbled. My mother had been on dialysis for 3 years. She used to say, “If there is hell on earth, this is it.” I have seen my mother suffer…writher in pain…saw the tears in her eyes. After the transplant, she slept like a baby. Her reports were normal. My mother was determined to keep herself healthy. She showed strong will to live. She said, “my daughter’s kidney is in me. I don’t want it to die.” God gave me a ‘karm’, I did it.

Organ donation taught me: 1. To tame my mind to do big things. 2. To control pain through mind. My message to aspiring organ donors: Just do it. People say a dip in the holy Ganga washes off our sins. Imagine what a ‘holy’ deed like organ donation can do! It is like attaining ‘nirvana’ while still being alive.

Krishna:

It’s not about the donors only, the hospital and the hospital staff needs to be sensitized. I tried twice to donate the organs of my loved ones, but in vain. Once when my mother passed away and once when my infant son passed away. For infants it seems there is no law which allows organ donation, I’m not sure but this is what I was told. When my mother passed away after being in coma for almost a fortnight, I specifically informed the doctor that we would like to donate the organs. It was a multi-specialty, high-end hospital in NCR. They denied it, the sister came back saying the doctor has refused. I was, of course, not in a state to argue much or dwell into the details. Point to be noted, she did not have any infectious disease or something. She was in coma after a cardiac arrest.

Amit: Yatharth with his parents in happier times.

He came to earth only to live for less than three years! But probably, God sent Yatharth with a purpose; to save four other lives. Yes, Yatharth, a brain-dead toddler, whose organs saved the lives of four other children. Yatharth suffered a cardiac arrest. On December 14, he was shifted to Manipal Hospital, but Yatharth was declared brain-dead. Yatharth’s parents, Rajalaxmi and Amit took a firm decision and chose the path of organ donation. They gave their consent to harvest and donate Yatharth’s organs, in a way to see their son living through other children. Five days later, a Green Corridor was set up in Bangalore, to transport Yatharth’s heart, from Bangalore to Fortis Hospital in Chennai. There, a Russian family was given his heart for their 33-month-old child. Yatharth’s liver, kidneys and cornea were donated to different families in the city.

Maloy:

My wife passed away in 2013 at the age of 49 after a cardiac arrest. Both her eyes were donated to two children below the age group of 10. It was a successful grafting. She is living through those children and that thought makes us all happy.