Fourteen Month Old Boy’s Heart And Kidneys Save Two People, Boy Becomes Youngest Organ Donor

Somnath Shah, a fourteen month old boy from Surat becomes Gujarat’s youngest organ donor. The heart and kidneys of this little boy were used to give a new lease of life to two people. His heart was given to Aaradhya Muley, a three and half year old girl from Mumbai and kidneys were given to a 15 year old boy from Banaskantha. Somnath’s family hailed from Mubarakpur village in the Siwan district of Bihar. He was declared brain dead on Sunday after suffering from a haemorrhage and multiple skull fractures on Saturday. 

His family had moved to Surat a couple of months back. Sunil, Somnath’s father worked as a supervisor in a power loom in Udhna, Surat. On Saturday, the boy fell from the stairs near his house while playing with his sister Kusum at around 7 p.m. Somnath hit his head and became unconscious, following which he was rushed to a local doctor. The parents were advised to take their son to New Civil Hospital in Surat where in a CT scan the hospital declared their son brain dead. 

Nilesh Mandlewala, the president of Surat-based Donate Life, an organ donation initiative, said that the hospital doctors had informed them about Somnath.

 “He had a brain haemorrhage and multiple fractures in skull. Somnath was declared brain dead on Sunday night after which we explained organ donation to the family. Besides working on organ donation, we also double up as counsellors,” said Mandlewala.

“The family finally agreed on Monday evening, and we started the process of finding the recipients,” he added. The boy’s father agreed upon donating his son’s organs after the councellors explained the importance of organ donation to him. 

“If the lives of other children can be saved by our son, what can be better than this? We are proud of our decision.” Sunil revealed.

Dr Dhaval Naik, a heart-transplant specialist at CIMS hospital in Ahmedabad, revealed that the fourteen year old boy becomes the youngest organ donor of Gujarat. 

“It is very difficult when it comes to children. Explaining to the family becomes tricky. This also stresses on the need to have more people working towards paediatric transplants and spreading awareness about it,” he said.

Somnath’s heart was harvested on Tuesday morning and given to Aaradhya who had been suffering from viral myocarditis, a heart inflammation caused by viral infection. She was suffering from this disease for over a year. “Save Aaradhya” campaign was going on in Mumbai and Pune.

The heart was transported from Surat to Mumbai on Tuesday morning. Doctors from Mumbai-based Fortis Hospital had arrived in Surat at 7.45 am. The team returned to Mumbai by 8.40 am and the heart transplant started by 9.00 am. After the surgery, Dr Swati Garekar, paediatric cardiologist revealed that Aaradhya is critical but stable.

 “It is very difficult to gauge a patient on the first day of such a massive transplant. So far things are good. For the next 24 hours we cannot say how things will turn out. We are hoping for the best,” said Dr Garekar.

“She had a large heart and the pumping rate was slow. The cause of her disorder was viral infection or what we call viral myocarditis,” she added.

Aaradhya’s aunt Ashwini Kawade revealed that they were looking forward to meet the donor, Somnath’s family. 

His kidneys were harvested at Ahmedabad-based Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC).

The senior urologist at IKDRC revealed that Somnath’s kidneys were given to a 15-year old boy in Banakantha.

 “The boy was suffering from kidney failure for the last 10 years. As far as I know, Somnath is our youngest kidney donor,” said the urologist.

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