Poignant tribute to deceased organ donors
Families lay white roses and lamps at one-and-only Donor Memorial Wall in SL at J’pura Hospital
Sadness and joy. Tears and smiles. Death and life.
This embodied the poignant scene on the morning of February 18 at the bustling Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital when a small knot of people gathered in the lobby before a large plaque with stars, to lay lamps with flickering flames and white roses.
The stars commemorated each and every deceased donor whose families in their moments of grief had taken the decision to donate to the hospital, the person’s organs and tissues so that someone else may get a fresh lease of life. These organs which include kidneys and livers and tissues such as corneas, bones, joints and skin have been used by the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital as well as other hospitals performing transplantations.
The programme that Saturday was the sixth at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital titled ‘Life is a gift. Pass it on’, organised by the Organ Donation and Transplantation Foundation (ODTF) since February 18, 2018, and was held on National Organ Donor Day.
Those who were commemorated this year were Rukmani Ratnayake whose family had donated her organs in early January this year and Hewa Rajage Anura, H.A. Janitha Darshana, K. Susantha Niroshan, Dayaranjani Wijesinghe, H.V. Priyantha Kumara Vithanege and E.A. Kulasinghe Gunadasa whose families had done so last year.
They were accorded their place on the Donor Memorial Wall along with Gayathri Tharika Herath and Athula Senanayake commemorated in 2022; R. Jayarathna and W.D. Sheila Prematilleke in 2021; Thameera Kumara Wijesundara in 2020; Thebuwan Arachige Asela Indralal and Rahubadde Kankanamge Susantha in 2019; and Don Ajith Wijesinghe, Sriyalatha Cumaratunga, G. Sunil Fernando and Sarath Ananda Vithana in 2018.
Among those gathered before the Donor Memorial Wall were elderly Alice Nona whose tears flowed as she shuffled forward to lay the white rose for her beloved son Susantha Niroshan; a middle-aged mother and her two sons and others who let out sighs or brushed off silent tears. It is Alice Nona’s grandson, W. Nisal, who murmured that Susantha, his maama (uncle) died when a naharayak in his mole pipuruwa (a blood vessel in his brain ruptured). “Yes, they are sad about his death, but the family is happy that the organs have been used to keep others alive,” says Nisal.
Soon after the felicitation at the Donor Memorial Wall, the kith and kin of the deceased moved to the Lecture Hall, where appreciation was showered on them not only by Chief Guest Prof. Surangi Yasawardene, former Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Sri Jayewardenepura University, but also hospital Director Dr. Rathnasiri A. Hewage and ODTF representatives.
The speakers thanked these “suvishesha” (special) people for making the heart-wrenching decision when they were facing immense grief over the loss of their loved ones, to rise above their sorrow and donate organs to give life to others critically ill who were staring at death.
They also hoped that other hospitals would follow suit with such programmes, while making the public more aware about the importance of donating organs and how to go about it through live and also deceased donor programmes. Prof. Yasawardene came up with another suggestion as well. Explaining that though “we may wish to donate our organs, a laudable decision, some of us may not be in a situation to do so”, she suggested that another deed of daana (donation) could be leaving wishes behind to hand over one’s body to medical faculties so that budding doctors could acquire knowledge and later serve the people of Sri Lanka.
According to the ODTF in 2022, the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital had performed 38 kidney transplants with 14 kidneys from deceased donors and 24 kidneys from live donors. Since the inception of the transplant programme in 2000 till 2023 (this year), the transplantation team has performed 438 kidney transplants – 72 from deceased donors and 366 from live donors.
The statistics, however, on the urgent need for kidneys remain disturbing. There are around 6,000 men, women and children with end-stage kidney disease across the country hoping and praying for a kidney to save them.
Seeing the teenager in red, the 16-year-old from Negombo smiling shyly who had been pulled back from the brink of death in September 2020, there is hope.
Living with undeveloped kidneys since she was a baby, her condition had taken a dramatic turn for the worse in 2020. The only hope had been a kidney transplant and that is what she had been gifted by the relatives of a deceased donor…….. life amidst death!
The stars commemorated each and every deceased donor whose families in their moments of grief had taken the decision to donate to the hospital, the person’s organs and tissues so that someone else may get a fresh lease of life.
They also hoped that other hospitals would follow suit with such programmes, while making the public more aware about the importance of donating organs and how to go about it through live and also deceased donor programmes