On September 8, in Surat, Kiven Rameshbhai Gajera (19), was participating in an inter-college boxing tournament. He won the bout, and the referee raised his hand to announce him the winner. But just when Gajera was leaving the ring, he collapsed.
He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was given preliminary treatment and then taken to Ayush ICU and Multi-specialty Hospital. A CT detected a brain haemorrhage; surgery was performed to remove the clot, but two days later, on September 10, he was declared brain dead.
Nilesh Mandlewala, president of the NGO Donate Life, counselled Mr. Gajera’s family to donate his organs.
Meanwhile in Mumbai, a 15-year-old boy, who was suffering from restricted cardiomyopathy, who was battling for life with his heart’s ejection fraction — that indicates its functioning — having plummeted to 5 per cent to 10 per cent. He was prepped for what would be the fourth alert for a heart in the last six months. “His condition was deteriorating,” said Dr. Vijay Agarwal, chief of Paediatirc Cardiac Surgery, Fortis Hospital, Mulund, where the heart transplant was carried out. Doctors said he had reached the hospital three times in the past when the possibility of a heart had loomed, only to fail later. But this time around, it worked. The boy, originally from Ahmednagar, was living in Thane with his relatives to ensure he could make it to the hospital on time should a heart become available.
Mr. Gajera’s heart was harvested by a team of Fortis doctors, airlifted from Surat in a private helicopter, and landed at Fortis, Mulund, within one hour and 50 minutes. The Ahmednagar teen was wheeled into the operation theatre at 8 a.m. The heart was transplanted and he was moved to the ICU by 4.30 p.m. “The heart was a good match,” Dr. Agarwal said. Mr. Gajera’s family also donated his kidneys, liver, and pancreas, which went to the Institute of Kidney Disease and Research Centre in Ahmedabad. They also donated his eyes.
“The boy’s family also consulted their dharam guru [spiritual leader] who guided them to donate their child’s organs,” said Mr. Mandlewala. The heart’s recipient is now recuperating. “The patient is now stable and will be kept under observation for the next 48-72 hours,” Dr. Agarwal said.
