19 year old turns life-saver, donates 6 organs

Shilpa P| NT

Bengaluru, Dec. 27 In a noble gesture, the parents of 19-year-old Sharath Kumar who was hit by a car driven by a Bengaluru cop on Thursday in Malavalli, and was declared brain dead on Sunday, donated his six major organs including his liver, kidney and pancreas, which were donated to to Apollo BGS hospital in Mysuru while the cornea was given to the Mysuru eye bank.

Also a kidney was donated to the Institute of Nephro Urology in Bengaluru and his heart to Columbia Asia hospital in Yeshvanthpur which were sent from Mysuru to Bengaluru in a green corridor late Sunday evening.

Despite the grief of losing their young son, Sharath’s parents Mr Shivakumar and Ms Geetha had the joy of helping several people with the organ donations. “This year in Karnataka, so far there have been 68 donors (deceased donors) who have donated 279 organs and tissues. There is a waiting list for 5682 organ transplants. This year though we identified 32 more brain dead people, organ donations could not happen mainly since the family members did not give their consent, apart from various other reasons. In 2020, there were 42 such brain dead cases but organ donation could not happen due to similar reasons,” said, Lijamol Joseph, Chief transplant co ordinator, Jeeva Saarthakathe constituted by the department of health and family welfare.

According to Mr NG Bharateesha Reddy Vice-President and Unit Head, Apollo BGS Hospital, Mysuru, “Sharath was rushed from a government hospital in Malavalli to Spandana Hospital in Mysuru on December 23 evening. He was further shifted to Apollo BGS Hospital in the wee hours of Friday. He was kept on life support and on the third day, he was declared brain dead. Tests confirmed his eligibility for organ donation and his parents agreed to donate his organs, he said.

On Sunday, Sharath’s organs were harvested and a combined kidney and pancreas transplant was done on a 32 year old female while the liver was transplanted to a 55 year old male. The rest of the organs were sent to hospitals in Bengaluru, Mr Bharatheesh Reddy said.

Sharath and his two friends, Shashank, and Sudarshan, all first BCom students of Shanthi college in Malavalli, were on a walk on December 23 when they were hit by the high-end car.