‘The nurses were God’s angels’

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Parag with wife Jayashree

Seven years. That’s how long Jayashree suffered due to her respiratory failure. It got worse every year, but the last two years were particularly the worst.

She found it difficult to go to the market or even do simple activities like take a stroll in the building premises or carry on with day-to-day activities. She was on external oxygen supply 24 hours for two years and bed-ridden for the last six months.
We were praying that we would get someone to donate a lung so that the surgery could be carried out at the earliest. We were particularly anxious since it’s not common for people to do a lung transplant, especially in India, but we wanted to take that chance. It was a huge risk, but we were ready to take it only because things couldn’t have gotten worse than they already were. A transplant would at least mean a chance at a new lease of life. We had heard of some foreign nationals getting it done from a hospital in Chennai, but didn’t know of anyone who had got it done in Mumbai. Jayashree’s would be the first case of lung transplant of an Indian in India.
Once we decide to take the plunge, we were just waiting for the donation. The wait lasted for about 10 to 11 months but finally, we got a donor. It was on July 11 that we heard from a family who wished to donate a lung.
Incidentally, it was also Jayashree’s birthday and we couldn’t have asked for a better birthday gift for her. We were all overjoyed at home and couldn’t wait to carry on with the surgery. We did so the very next day and by the grace of God, it was successful.
Jayashree seemed to be reacting well to the transplant initially. In fact, there were people who wished to meet her and seek inspiration for a transplant in their own family. But what followed was totally unexpected and unfortunate. We lost Jayashree a few months later, in November.
In retrospect I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I am not very comfortable talking about Jayashree or the struggle we went through, but I want to come out and talk about it because I don’t want people to lose faith in the process of transplant. It didn’t work for us, but may do wonders for others. Besides, no one deserves to live a life of misery without giving a shot at a better one. I continue to believe that if the patient insists on taking a risk to have a shot at a better life, by all means support him/her.
I am so grateful to the donor family and the staff at Hinduja hospital (where the surgery took place). The doctors and nurses were no less than God’s angels to us and we will forever be indebted to them for all that they have done.