Transplanted lives: Organ donation in Kerala gains traction

Turning 18 can imply various things for various folks.

For P. P. Devananda, a Plus Two scholar from Thrissur, it meant being sufficiently old to donate her liver to P.G. Pratheesh, her father, who was battling liver cirrhosis and in pressing want of a transplant. However time wasn’t in her favour and she or he couldn’t wait till she turned 18, as her father’s situation was worsening. The household’s try and get the organ from one in all their relations failed because the proposed donor backed out citing some private causes.

It was round this time that Devananda started to pursue the thought of donating her liver? “Initially, everybody was against the thought. They stated it may trigger extreme ache. However I used to be decided to do it to avoid wasting my father as time was working out for him,” she remembers.

She moved the Kerala Excessive Court docket searching for permission for donating the organ as regulation forbids minors from donating organs. Finally, she secured a beneficial order from the courtroom. And on February 9, 2023, two months earlier than she turned 18, Devananda donated her liver to her father, thus changing into most likely the primary minor to take action. Now 21, Devananda says she simply did what any daughter would do.

“We needed to save him someway. The surgical procedure needed to be carried out instantly and there was no time,” remembers Devananda.

Pratheesh says that the household at all times dissuaded her. “I by no means knew that she went to the courtroom to get the order. She saved all these from me. I had advised her not to consider donating; she was too younger,” says Pratheesh.

The Class 12 scholar needed to persuade the system — the courtroom, medical board, and clear a psychiatric analysis. She additionally needed to construct up emotional energy to combat the naysayers, too. “My father’s case was one of many non-alcoholic liver ailments. Individuals simply assumed it was attributable to alcohol consumption and questioned my donation. It was actually dangerous, life-changing. However now we’re sturdy sufficient to face something,” says Devananda.

Pratheesh considers himself extraordinarily fortunate to obtain the organ on the proper time. But, over 3,000 sufferers are ready for donors because the life-saving observe of organ donation continues to be fraught with controversies, misrepresentations and misinformation, which the medical group retains making an attempt to combat.

Until January 28, 2025, as many as 3,261 individuals are on the organ ready listing, with the bulk in want for kidney (2,450), adopted by liver (659), coronary heart (85) and different organs.

The story of two brothers

In 2014, Akshay Manoj, a resident of Marampally, Aluva, in Ernakulam, was simply 13 when he underwent dialysis. A serious a part of his growing-up years was spent in hospitals. He was affected by kidney failure following a genetic illness.

“Three visits per week,” remembers Akshay about his earlier life. “At first, I assumed the transplant would occur with out a lot delay. Then some ten years handed; I misplaced hope and bought used to it,” says Akshay.

After which a number of years later, his elder brother, Anandhu Manoj, additionally needed to be placed on dialysis, as he fell sufferer to the identical illness. “I used to accompany Akshay earlier for dialysis. Then I needed to bear the remedy,” says Anandhu.

P. P. Devananda alongside together with her father P.G. Pratheesh. Devananda had donated her liver to her father when she was simply 17, saving his life and doubtless changing into the primary minor to take action.
| Photograph Credit score:
Okay.Okay. Najeeb

It wasn’t one thing the household was ready for; they waited for a donor. After which in 2024, Anandhu obtained a deceased donor transplant. “I don’t know the household who donated the kidney. I requested, however they didn’t need to reveal the identification of the donor,” says the 26-year-old. Finally in 2025, after ready for greater than ten years, Akshay too obtained a kidney from deceased donor Biljith Biju.

Eight organs had been harvested from the teen who was declared brain-dead following a street accident in Kochi and Akshay was one of many beneficiaries. By the way, the donation got here lower than 24 hours after six organs had been harvested from a 28-year-old brain-dead Isaac George, a restaurateur in Kottarakara in Kollam district, who was hospitalised following a street accident.

The 2 back-to-back circumstances of organ donations went viral and ignited a wave of organ pledging in the State. The subsequent few days witnessed over 500 folks pledging their organs. The yr 2025 thus noticed a renewed enthusiasm in deceased organ donation, with the donor numbers greater than doubling in comparison with the earlier yr.

A complete of 25 deceased donor donations have been recorded on the Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (Okay-SOTTO) in 2025. The overall variety of deceased donor organs donated stood at 75, with kidney being essentially the most donated organ (41), liver (21), and coronary heart (seven), as per knowledge from Okay-SOTTO.

The overall variety of organs donated in the previous 13 years stands at 1,171, with a complete donor variety of 403. Through the years, deceased organ donation dipped, with simply eight deceased donors in 2018. However an increase in consciousness among the many group contributed to the rise in the variety of deceased organ donations, with households of brain-dead sufferers coming ahead for organ donation, say medical consultants.

Although many developments have been made in the world of organ transplantation globally, it’s in its nascent levels in Kerala. It hasn’t been lengthy since transplant as a remedy possibility for end-stage organ failure was thought of, says Noble Gracious, Government Director of Okay-SOTTO and State convener of the Mrithasanjeevani organ transplant programme.

“All challenges are throughout the hospital group, relatively than societal. On the medical entrance we face the problem of reluctance to certify mind stem demise amongst sufferers. It has been noticed that the organ donation course of is usually initiated by the donor household, relatively than hospitals,” observes Dr. Gracious.

There are operational and logistical challenges too.

“There are greater than 50 registered transplant centres in our State. But, not all of them can actively execute and implement organ transplantation. It is because cadaveric transplants are unplanned high-intensity actions and the dimensions of preparation is intensive,” he provides.

Life after transplant

After organ donation, life isn’t the identical for the donor household nor for the recipient. A. Babu, father of Amal Babu, whose organs had been donated final yr, says that his son continues to reside with six folks even after his demise.

For Jose Jacob, an Ernakulam native, who obtained a liver transplant from his son Rohit Jacob Jose, it was not a straightforward choice to take as his son was in the springtime of his life. “Initially, I used to be against the thought contemplating his age and the dangers the choice would deliver upon him. Nevertheless, Rohit stood his floor and compelled me to simply accept his choice,” he says.

On his half, Rohit says he was satisfied of the thought of being the donor for his father from the start. “I used to be certain that I used to be your best option for him given my age and well being situations. I used to be not petrified of the attainable dangers concerned although docs had warned me about it. I do know it was the most effective choice that I took for my father,” says Rohit.

Jose, who’s penning a memoir masking post-transplant days, jokingly provides that his relationship together with his son has modified barely after the process. “I usually discover myself not having the ability to scold him. He teases me, saying that he has given me all the pieces he may in his lifetime,” he laughs.

Everybody who has had a transplant talks about having obtained a brand new lease of life, of priorities getting modified, households getting stronger as a unit, chasing life with a ardour, and following more healthy and intentional selections transferring ahead.

For T.R. Manu, a Thodupauzha native, life’s trajectory and profession itself went by means of a sea of change. It was in 2013, on the age of 27 that Manu misplaced each his palms after being pushed off a transferring prepare. “I simply bear in mind falling from the prepare; after I awoke and realised that I misplaced each my palms, my first thought was that my life had ended. I didn’t need to reside any extra,” recounts Manu.

Whereas prosthetic limbs had been an possibility, he wasn’t eager on that resulting from a bunch of causes. “I hit on the thought of contemplating an arm transplant after being alerted by a cousin, who chanced upon a TV programme on organ transplant,” says Manu.

A hand transplant was one thing unparalleled in India at the moment. But, he determined to provide it a go. “When you don’t have any different alternative, you begin believing in doorways that open. I had full religion that it may work,” remembers Manu.

Then it occurred. A household was prepared for cadaver donation. The hand transplant befell in 2015, a primary in the nation. Life had saved extra surprises for Manu on the hospital. There he met V.S. Sreeja, a nurse, who would later grow to be his life accomplice.

“I noticed him on the hospital and I felt like sharing my life with him. So I proposed,” Sreeja says, blushing. “At first he stated no. He insisted that the physician treating him ought to give permission. I persevered, and after a yr, he stated sure,” says Sreeja, as their children play merrily round her.

Manu, who recaptured his life, is now a transplant counsellor on the hospital the place he underwent the process. “Who higher to speak in regards to the transplant to the households than somebody who has undergone it?” asks Manu.