She went from door-to-door in her village of Ratgama in Galle in desperation, weeping and pleading, once even prostrating herself at the feet of a neighbour, going down on her knees.
She was seeking a kidney and seeking it urgently, for life was slowly ebbing from her firstborn son.
It was about five months ago that Nirupa and Priyanka Ranasinghe found to their shock and dismay that their eldest, Hasitha Geethanjan, just 16 years old was in need of a kidney.
The symptoms, at first, were usual for any child. It began with fever, but gradually Hasitha was too lethargic to get up. He was sleeping all the time and his face was swollen.
At Karapitiya Teaching Hospital where they took him to, he was kept for more than a month undergoing a battery of tests and when the verdict came the whole family was devastated.
Wakugadu amaruwa.
Hasitha had kidney trouble and there was an urgent need for him to get a kidney transplantation. Otherwise? She and her husband knew the answer.
They were fortunate to show Hasitha to Nephrologist Sandhya Seneviratne attached to the National Institute of Nephrology Maligawatte who holds a weekly clinic at the Karapitiya Hospital who suggested dialysis for the boy at the National Hospital in Colombo. On being referred from Karapitiya, they came to Colombo where he had to stay for four months. With Hasitha needing a transplant and no relative having a matching kidney, the quest for a non-related donor began.
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| Nirupa with her son. |
Hasitha’s studies were disrupted, he was to sit the Ordinary Level in December this year, his father’s income as a private bus driver dwindled drastically because he was unable to go to work regularly and the mother pawned all her jewellery to meet the sudden high costs the family is burdened with.
Their search for an O+ kidney yielded only heartache and brought to the fore the corruption and greed of others who were preying on helpless victims.
In her own village, someone promised to get a kidney but at a cost – a kidney for Rs. 800,000. Even at the National Hospital, some hangers-on promised a kidney for Rs. 500,000, alleged Nirupa.
Luckily they spotted the article in the Lankadeepa of September 29 about the first kidney transplantation at the Nephrology Unit of the Kandy Teaching Hospital under the National Organ Donor Programme on September 13.
Nirupa then called the initiator of the Donor Programme Ajit F. Perera who had soldiered on amidst many obstacles, and pleaded with him to, “daruwa berala denna” (help save my child). Then he requested that she get her doctor to include Hasitha in the patient pool accessed by the programme.
Those who wish to donate an organ, meanwhile, may register by filling a form including vital information such as blood type. Once they register, the data is computerized and matched by computer with the patient pool provided by the renal units of Kandy, Anuradhapura, Colombo and Jayewardenepura Hospitals.
It was while having lunch at his workplace at Wathupitiwela and glancing through the newspaper that 28-year-old Janaka Nalin of Nittambuwa saw the same article. He too called Mr. Perera and joined the programme to donate a kidney, something he had wanted to do to save a life. A father of a three-year-old, he is happy that initial “matching” indicates that he may be able to give one of his kidneys to Hasitha.
As preparations are being made to carry out the transplantation at the National Hospital by Prof. Mandika Wijeyaratne who is Professor in Surgery of the Colombo Faculty of Medicine, Nirupa vows to promote the invaluable National Organ Donor Programme.
The moment my son is okay, I will donate a kidney myself, she says. Not an eye for an eye, but in contrast on a different principle a kidney for a kidney to keep the National Organ Donor Programme alive to be a lifeline for another man, woman or child.
National Organ Donor Programme
The National Organ Donor Programme, launched on March 31, 2009, is a collaboration between the Kidney Transplant Support Foundation (KTSF) founded by Ajit F. Perera and the National Kidney Foundation of Sri Lanka headed by Dr. A.M.L. Beligaswatte, a former Director-General of Health Services.
While about 1,000 have pledged their kidneys after death, there are about 20 live donors. Six transplants have already been carried out under the programme and seven are being evaluated.
Those who wish to help save a life by donating an organ or by making a financial contribution to the programme may contact Mr. Perera on Phone: 00-94-112-824373 or 00+94-115-553890; Mobile: 00-94-722-247236 or Fax: 00-94-112-824373.
His e-mail is: 247236@celltelnet.lk and postal address: 465/24, Ranasinghe Mawatha, Pepiliyana. |
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