Mathew Achadan, the recipient of the organ that was flown for the first time in Kerala by an air ambulance died on Monday, over a decade after his heart transplant surgery. According to his family, 57-year-old Achadan had a cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Chalakudy in Thrissur district.
“Achadan’s death is extremely saddening. We had overcome a lot of challenges to perform his transplant surgery (in 2015). At the time, the chances of him surviving at least a year were only 50%. But post-surgery, he went on to live for 10 more years. He also engaged in hard physical work during this period, particularly driving his autorickshaw to support his family,” said Jo Joseph, a consultant cardiology at Lisie Hospital in Kochi who was part of the team under Dr Jose Chacko Periappuram which performed the surgery on Achadan in 2015.
At 7:35 pm on July 24, 2015, when a Navy Dornier aircraft landed at the Kochi airport from Thiruvananthapuram, it marked a historic milestone — it was the first time an organ was being flown by an air ambulance for transplant in Kerala. Later that night, a heart, belonging to a lawyer who was declared brain dead at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, was successfully transplanted into the body of Achadan, an autorickshaw driver, at Lisie hospital.
Follow-up treatment is extremely essential for organ transplants, said Dr Joseph, and Achadan attended annual check-ups regularly.
“He visited the hospital last in March this year for a follow-up. There were no major complications at the time. But studies show that the survival rate dips to 50% 10 years after an organ transplant. At the time of his transplant, the conditions were not smooth. That’s why we are very proud of the surgery we did on him,” said Dr Joseph.
Achadan, a resident of Pariyaram in Thrissur district, was admitted to Lisie Hospital in Kochi in 2015 after being diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition that in his case required heart transplant as the only option. He was promptly added to the waiting list of the Kerala Network for Organ Sharing (KNOS).
To the relief of Achadan and his family, a heart became available at the last minute after S Neelakanta Sharma, a 46-year-old lawyer in Thiruvananthapuram, was declared brain dead at the Sree Chitra Institute for Medical Sciences following a fall at home. Sharma’s family agreed to donate his heart to Achadan and four other organs to other recipients across the state.
Lata Sharma, the lawyer’s wife, told local media on Monday, “At the time, there wasn’t a lot of awareness about organ donation. So we decided to do it to spread the word and help people in need. We later formed a trust which annually offers help to those in need on my husband’s death anniversary. Achadan and his family had taken part in an event on the 8th anniversary.”
After Sharma’s family consented to the donation and the medical procedures showed a match for Achadan, doctors and officials deliberated on how the organ could be transported to Kochi from the state capital, a distance of over 200 kilometres that takes up to four hours by road even using a green corridor. Deeming road transport not practical, doctors including Dr Periappuram consulted the Navy if one of its aircrafts could be borrowed as an air ambulance to transport the organ. Then chief minister Oommen Chandy and Ernakulam MLA Hibi Eden’s interventions proved to be decisive and the Dornier aircraft was chosen to fly to the state capital, harvest the organ and bring it back to Kochi for transplant. A journey, that could have taken over four hours, was completed in less than an hour.
By night of July 24, 2015, the heart was successfully transplated into Achadan’s body by the team of doctors led by Dr Periappuram, helping to extend his lifespan by over a decade, until Monday.
