Indeath,20-month-oldgirlgiftslifetofive

Thirty nine-year-old Ashish Kumar and his wife Babita were devastated when their daughter, who was about to celebrate her second birthday, died last week after falling from a balcony of their house in Rohini. However, their grief turned into pride after they found that the death of their little one has given a new lease of life to five patients including a 5month-old infant, who were on their deathbed.

Twenty-month-old Dhanishtha has become the youngest cadaver donor. Her organs were donated to save the lives of five critically ill patients. Doctors at Sir Gangaram Hospital in Delhi retrieved her heart, liver, both kidneys and both corneas, and transplanted them in five patients including the infant.

Dhanishtha's heart was transplanted in the infant at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. Her kidneys and liver were used in adults.

On January 8, Dhanishta fell from the first floor balcony of her home while playing in the evening and became unconscious. She was rushed to Gangaram Hospital where despite the best efforts of the doctors, she did not regain consciousness. The doctors declared her brain dead on January 11.

However, the decision of donating her organs came voluntarily from her parents after they saw the plight of patients during their stay in the hospital.

"During our stay at the hospital, we saw many patients dying because of lack of organs. When we asked the reason from the doctors, they told us that there is scarcity of organ donors. We thought to donate organs of our child since there was no hope for her to come back to life," Kumar said while speaking to IANS.