KOCHI: At a time when organ transplant is facing a huge setback following adverse social media campaigns, Sruthi continues to spread cheer after having completed five years with a donated heart.
On the World Organ Donation Day in 2013, Arakunnam native Sruthi, 29, had received the heart from Thaipparambil Joseph Mathew (Lalichan), then aged 43. The police had brought the organ from Kottayam by road. After Lalichan suffered brain death post an accident, his family had decided to donate his heart.
Sruthi has been working as a lab technician at the Mulanthuruthy Neethi DRC lab for the past two years and is able to buy medicines on her own. On the fifth anniversary, Sruthi met Lalichan's sister at the Lisie Hospital here. His three sisters - Lillykutti, Elsamma and Shannel - were present on the occasion. Lalichan was the youngest of the seven siblings. The sisters even felt Sruthi's heartbeat before they left. Born with just one kidney, Sruthi also has the rare Takayasu disease. Her case is also the first where such a person has had a successful transplant in Asia.
"Without the transplant at that point, she would only have survived a few more months and would have been bedridden," said Dr Jose Chacko Periyappuram who led the transplant surgery.
Actor Kalidas Jayaram graced the small get-together.
"I am a person who gets emotional with simple things. When I meet people like them who have been through so much and are still going strong, I feel nothing but pride. This is a big takeaway for me and these people are role models for me," he said.
The function also had the presence of other organ recipients along with the doctors who performed the surgeries. Check-ups were led by Dr Roni Mathew Kadavil and Dr Jacob Abraham.