“I was told I had chronic renal failure and my only options for staying alive were either lifelong dialysis or a kidney transplant. Believe me, life on dialysis is not easy. I had to quit my job because I could not juggle my work with my dialysis appointments,” Sushma said, reflecting back on those dark days.

Four years later, Sushma finally received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor in Chennai, India. Shortly after her transplant she said, “The first thing I’m happy about is no more dialysis for me. I can live like any other normal person, and I can even think of having children again. The second thing is in the four years I was on dialysis, there was complete cessation of the normal body function of urination. This activity is taken for granted by people who do not have end-stage kidney disease, but the day I could resume this simple activity, was one of the happiest in my life; you cannot imagine what it was like after four long years.”

Sushma is just one of the many lives that MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) has touched since its inception in 1997 in Chennai, India. MOHAN foundation a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization was started to promote deceased organ donation and transplantation. Thanks to the pioneering work of MOHAN, many people with life-threatening illnesses have been blessed with a second chance at life.

Organ harvesting and transplantation is truly one of the miracles of modern medicine. It is estimated that about 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ and about eighteen people will die each day waiting for an organ (www.organdonor.gov). A single organ donor can potentially save eight lives. Due to the lack of trained professionals and infrastructure, this problem is magnified many fold in India.

It is estimated that there are over 200,000 Indians suffering from end-stage kidney failure, and a similar number of people suffering from liver and heart failure.  The only viable solution to their predicament is organ transplantation. MOHAN foundation is India’s largest and most effective transplant and organ donation awareness NGO. MOHAN engages in professional and lay-public education regarding deceased donor transplant. The mission of MOHAN foundation is to ensure that everyone suffering from end-stage organ failure is provided with the gift of a “new life” through a life-saving organ.

Deceased donor transplant is in a nascent stage in India. Most transplants performed in India are from living donors, necessarily limiting this activity to kidney and liver transplants. Although deceased donor organ transplant (i.e., using organs recovered from brain dead individuals) is becoming more accepted, the resources and infrastructure are lacking to make this practice widespread. There are cultural barriers to the acceptance of brain death and organ donation, but there is substantial evidence that these barriers are surmountable with appropriate educational interventions.

Health care workers can be educated and sensitized to organ donation issues. Skilled counselors can be trained to interact with family members, hospital staff, and transplant professionals. Public education campaigns can effectively address concerns about donation and emphasize the inherent goodness of saving lives through transplant.

The presence of a robust and transparent system for organ sharing and transplant data repository in India, similar to the United Network of Organ Sharing here in the U.S., will lead to increased deceased donor transplant activity and will allow for greater access to transplant for everyone. MOHAN foundation is working hard to address these issues. It has initiated public awareness campaigns about organ donation, counseling families of “brain dead” victims to donate their loved ones’ organs, trained transplant coordinators whose role is critical in facilitating organ donation and transplantation.

MOHAN is also liaising with the government and other like-minded organizations in passing favorable legislation to augment organ donations.

In a tragic turn of events, Kalpana complained of chest pain and became unconscious on the night of June 28, 2013. She was rushed to a hospital in Hyderabad, was resuscitated immediately, and put on ventilator by the emergency care doctors.  On the morning of July 1, the doctors pronounced her “brain dead.”

Members of Lions Club of Hyderabad East and MOHAN Foundation swung into action. They spoke to the family and requested them to donate her organs.  Her husband, Manoj Tiwari, recalled his wife wishes that she would like her organs to be donated should something untoward happen to her. Kalpana’s kidneys, liver, heart valves and eyes were donated and distributed among hospitals in Hyderabad. Manoj, while grieving the loss of his loving wife, took solace in the knowledge that he fulfilled his wife’s wishes and that she will continue to live on in seven needy people.