A gift of life…

Note from the author,

It was a transforming experience to write this piece. The stories of a few organ receivers I had reached out to were so touching, transforming and inspiring. Thank you to the organizers for this initiative to touch lives through lines. Organ donation is that ray of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. That ray of hope in a dark gloomy painful life. Thank you for this opportunity and hoping to make a difference…

She opened her eyes disoriented with excruciating pain. Monitors were beeping, tubes attached everywhere, she could not move, she could not talk, she could not breathe. Where was she? Her eyes searched for answers. Tears trickled down. She knew not what had happened to her. But she knew the life that waited for her. Her arms but wished for that hug from her elder one. Her mouth wished to shower kisses on her younger one. Her heart ached for the touch of her better half. Yet there she was, surrounded by machines, tubes, immobile, critical, fighting… for each moment, to stay alive… How had it come to this…

Suki was thirty-year-old, mother of two lovely kids. She had married the love of her life against all odds. Together they moved to a new country and started life from scratch with nothing but each other. They built a beautiful life. She was a loving wife, a doting daughter, a caring friend, a fun mother, a star performer at work and a role model in their community. They lived a very happy life until that moment changed everything.

It was just another day at work. She logged in late and started catching up on her tasks when she felt uncomfortable and suddenly vomited blood. Everybody around panicked and rushed her to the hospital. She was confident it was nothing critical as her most recent master health checkup did not throw any abnormalities. But life had its way…

She was admitted and the doctors started running tests. With each passing hour, she felt weaker. Her husband rushed to be by her side. Scans were done, needles pierced, medicines given but none had any effect. The couple waited anxiously for the doctor’s diagnosis. What was wrong… her condition kept worsening and suddenly she started drifting in and out of consciousness. The doctors moved her to ICU. Her husband was shocked, and it broke his heart to see her like this. He was just coming to terms when the doctors gave him the ultimatum. 

He could not breathe, his world came to a standstill, and the pain was too much to bear. The doctors said she was not going to make it; her liver was damaged beyond repair. The only possibility of survival was through a liver transplant and it had to happen in the next three days. The normal wait time for a liver was 145 days. He did not know what to do, the world they had built so lovingly was crashing down…

The doctors did their best, they moved her to an ultra-high waitlist and reached out to different sources. The next day her husband brought the kids. The sight of the three and two years old peeking through the ICU window to glimpse at their mother… moved everyone around to tears. The hospital support staff, nurses, doctors and all well-wishers started praying for this young mother to survive… 

With just one day to go, their prayers were answered. A 71-year-old donated a liver. The doctors were initially skeptical about how the liver would adjust to her body. But her husband fought for her right to live and they finally relented. It was the most difficult wait of his life. Scared yet hopeful, nervous yet calm… when the doctors came out to announce the operation was a success his joy and relief knew no bounds. She was going to make it and come back to him… 

The success of an organ transplant is not just about the operation but how the body reacts and accepts the new organ. Life for the organ receiver is never going back to normal, most need to be on lifelong immune suppression drugs, and it is not all rosy. Yet when Suki finally opened her eyes… it was to a beautiful new life. All that mattered to her was, that she was alive to live once again…

One soul decided to donate,

Their dying gesture was the light to her soul,

It gifted…

a mother to the children,

a wife to the husband,

a daughter to aged parents

a wonderful human being to the world.

Organ donation gifted her life… gave her… everything.

– Ramya Kamalakannan