This particular turn of events owes a lot to Discovery Channel. A couple of corneas were donated, and two people who received them now have a good chance of acquiring vision. In the midst of their profound grief at suddenly losing their five-year-old daughter, Yogalakshmi, in cyclone Nilam, the Thiyagarajan family actually had the fortitude to donate her corneas.
“I used to watch a lot of Discovery Channel,” the five-year-old’s father K.Thiyagarajan said, “especially the episodes on organ donation. I realised that there is no mutilation of the body if one were to donate organs after death, and decided then that I should donate my organs after death.” He works as a construction labourer, and his wife is a tailor. It is tragic that he had to first sign the form to donate his young daughter’s eyes. Yogalakshmi had stepped out of her home in Kosavanpettai, near Periyapalayam in Tiruvallur district to use the bathroom (located outside the house).
Strong winds, an effect of the cyclonic storm Nilam, knocked down the electricity post adjoining the post and it fell on her. Yogalakshmi collapsed immediately and was rushed by her grandfather to the Tiruvallur GH. When Thiyagarajan was informed, he rushed to the hospital, and almost immediately urged hospital authorities to harvest his young daughter’s organs for transplantation.
The hospital apparently refused. Though the circumstances are not known, it is basic science that brain death is a pre-condition for solid organ harvesting.
However, the corneas could still be harvested and transplanted.
To keep at least this part of the father’s strangely stirring dream alive, a team from Dr. Agarwal’s Hospital rushed to the Tiruvallur hospital to remove the corneas.
“It is deeply moving that the parents of Yogalakshmi decided to donate the eyes of the child in the face of enormous personal tragedy. Though not educated, these people have good awareness and a lot of courage,” Amar Agarwal, CMD, Dr. Agarwal’s group of Eye Hospitals.
Coincidentally, a young one-and-a-half-year-old baby with a huge lump in her left eye had been admitted to the hospital at the same time. One of Yogalakshmi’s corneas went to this baby, and the other, to restore vision to an adult. A grieving family finished the last rites for Yogalakshmi on Thursday, and sorrow still clouds the family home. It will be a while before the television is switched on again, but Discovery Channel seems to have fulfilled its task, for the present, at least.
via The Hindu Newspaper http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/cyclone-victims-father-discovers-virtues-of-organ-donation/article4055411.ece
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