The organs of a brain-dead 23-year-old man, which were donated to Chandigarh’s PGIMER, provided a new lease of life to five patients.
Rajesh was referred to Chandigarh’s PGIMER from a local hospital after he sustained a severe head injury due to a fall in his home on January 3. He was declared brain dead by doctors on January 12, following which Rajesh’s family gave consent to donate his organs.
Expressing his gratitude to Rajesh’s parents for their noble gesture, Professor Vivek Lal, director of Chandigarh’s PGIMER said, “Amid a grim tragedy, the decision of Rajesh’s family to donate his organs is a beacon of hope. Their selflessness has not only given a new lease of life to five recipients but also stands as a testament to the generosity and compassion that can exist even in the darkest of times”.
Speaking to the media, Rajesh’s mother, Mandodri Devi, said, “Our tragedy is too gruesome for words. After his father’s demise, Rajesh was the only earner and a ray of life for me. But now he has also gone, and our world is completely doomed. Maybe God took my son because others were to live because of him through organ donation.”
After the family’s consent, doctors at PGIMER started the procedure to harvest his organs.
Rajesh’s heart was allotted to a 30-year-old patient admitted to the Army’s Delhi-based Research and Referral (R&R) Hospital while his lungs were given to a 55-year-old man admitted to Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital.
His heart was alloted to a 60-year-old patient admitted to PGIMER, Chandigarh.
A 26-year-old patient received Rajesh’s pancreas and one of his kidneys. His other kidney was received by a 32-year-old patient in PGIMER Chandigarh.