‘Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws’– The saying stands true for an 80-year-old Mrs Madeleine, who donated her kidney to save the life of her son displaying the epitome of love and sacrifice. Mrs Madeleine, a farmer from Cameroon (Gulf of Guinea, Central Africa), faced the emotionally charged crisis of being the mother of a critically ill son. But without any second thought, she took up the first opportunity to save her son’s life as she was denied by many other hospitals.
The team of doctors who successfully conducted the highly complicated kidney transplant surgery were comprised of Dr Amit K. Devra, Dr Vijay K. Sinha, Dr L P Chowdhury, Dr Ravi Singh, Dr Anuj Arora, Dr Khushboo Singh and other paramedical staff. With a robust organ transplant programme, Jaypee Hospital has successfully completed more than 650 kidney transplants.
Dr. Amit K. Devra, Director, Coordinator Kidney Transplant Programme, Department of Urology & Kidney Transplant, Jaypee Hospital said, “A 52-year-old patient, Joseph was suffering from a prolonged kidney disease resulting in kidney failure and was in need of immediate transplantation. His mother who is in her 80s instantaneously agreed to donate her kidney. Her old age was of major concern for us as mostly the health of the kidney starts deteriorating after the age of 65. After proper evaluation, it was found that she had good kidney functions and was found medically fit to donate her kidney. However, she had a complex kidney anatomy with two renal arteries and two ureters for which we had to connect two tubes instead of one for the proper renal functioning. Generally, normal people have one renal artery and ureters. A small stone was also diagnosed in her kidney. This made the process even more complicated, but without any hesitation we took up the challenge in order to save our patient’s life.”
Further explaining about the surgery, Dr. Devra said,” Donor’s kidney harvesting was done laparoscopically to reduce the post operative pain. After kidney removal, the stone was removed (ex vivo) while the kidney was in an ice bucket for perfusion. Both renal arteries were then connected separately with the recipient’s blood vessels.”
“There has been a recent spike in cases of chronic kidney disease owing to a related increase in the number of people suffering from co-morbidity like diabetes and high blood pressure, which in the longer run leads to kidney related ailments. It is crucial for people to understand the significance of undergoing kidney transplants at the required juncture and not delaying it. Kidney transplantation generally improves long-term survival in patients with end-stage renal disease. Joseph’s body is responding well to the present kidney and his mother Mrs Madeline is also recovering well. It takes an incredible amount of strength, endurance and faith to donate a kidney at this age. She did not lose hope and her strong will to save her son’s life pushed her to not give up at any point. The Donor was discharged on the 5th post operative day, whereas the recipient was discharged on the 8th post operative day,” said Dr Vijay K. Sinha, Associate Director, Department of Nephrology & Kidney Transplant, Jaypee Hospital
This case has also been registered in the India book of records for the aged living female kidney donor. This will open the gates for accepting old age donors in the world and will also give hope to thousands of patients waiting for a kidney transplant.
Such surgeries are complicated, highly demanding and need a multidisciplinary team effort. They need clinical expertise and well-equipped operation theatres with advanced equipments. The treatment is usually prolonged and done in multiple stages. Successful execution of complex and risky surgeries demonstrate expert clinical services and advanced healthcare facilities available at Jaypee Hospital.