Telangana teen gives heart, new life to Andhra boy
For two years, eightyear-old Yashwant could only watch as his friends played and ran around in the neighbourhood. Even a small walk would leave him tired and breathless.
Even after two years of medication, the condition of the boy from East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh only worsened.
“His young body was swollen and his heart was functioning at only eight per cent. He was suffering these symptoms for over two years and not responding to any medication,” Dr Mannem Gopichand, chief cardiac surgeon at Hyderabad’s Star Hospitals, said. Yashwant was suffering from severe biventricular dysfunction that compromised his heart’s ability to pump blood and was at the “end stage” of the disease, according to a team of paediatric heart surgeons at Star Hospitals. He was saved in the nick of time.
A heart transplant at the hospital on April 4 gave the eightyear-old a new life. The organ came from the neighbouring state of Telangana.
Naveen, an 18-year-old from Chityal in Nalgonda district, was declared brain dead after an accident.
“Naveen’s family agreed to donate his heart to Yashwant and that saved the boy’s life,” said Gopichand, who led the team of 12 doctors that carried out the rare surgery. Doctors had struggled to find a compatible heart.
Expenses were another hurdle. The surgery cost around ₹20 lakh, a sum Yashwant’s mother Satyavathi, a domestic cook, could not afford.
But her persistent efforts paid off. The Andhra Pradesh government sanctioned ₹7 lakh from the chief minister’s relief fund for the surgery.