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A family soldiers on to save the kin
Third Kidney transplantation saves Muthuraj's life
Coimbatore : C. Muthuraj (39) lives because his family had been willing to die for him. High immunity in his body had rejected a kidney each from his older and younger brothers. However, his stepmother, Ayyamma succeeded where his brothers could not. His system accepted her kidney in a rare third attempt at transplantation at the KG Hospital here two years ago. If this too had failed, his stepsister was willing to donate her kidney.
Mr. Muthuraj, a native if Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar District, was a gun mechanic in the Army when he was diagnosed with renal failure in 2000. His older brother offered his kidney and the transplant was done in Mumbai that year. But, It failed. It was a case of hyper acute rejection. His highly immune system instantaneously rejected the donor kidney and it had to be thrown into the dustbin," says Dr. Balasubramaniyam, Chief Nephrologist at the hospital.
Risk Factor
Yet, hey went in for the next transplant in 2001. His younger brother donated a kidney, but it was also rejected. "In such cases, it is a blow to the donors also. They lose a kidney and the recipient too is not saved," the nephrologist points out.
"I was on the verge of suicide," says Muthuraj while at the hospital here on Tuesday for a review. "He cannot hear properly; a problem caused by the kidney disorder," says Dr. Balasubramaniyam.
In fact, it was Ayyamma who summoned the courage to save him. Hospitals in Mumbai and even Coimbatore refused to take the case, She says. "We fought with them, asking why they hesitated when we were willing to take the risk," recalls Ayyamma, who is his mother's younger sister.
Determination
"I also hesitated initially because there was no history of a third attempt after two failed surgeries," the doctor admits.
Seeing the determination in the donor and recipient, the case was put through a discussion in the hospital, and the chairman, G. Bakthavathsalam, decided to take up the challenge.
"We did a B-cell cross matching of their blood to assess the percentage of anti-bodies and see how they reacted when the blood was mixed," the nephrologist narrates. It was 25 percent positive. Normally, transplantation is ruled out if it is above five percent."
Repeated attempts
But the hospital did not give up. Muthuraj was put through plasmapheresis under which he entire plasma in his body was removed. Fresh matching plasma was got from the blood bank and infused. His original plasma was removed to bring down immunity - to eliminate rejection of Ayyamma's kidney also. The fresh plasma was aimed at providing compatibility with the donor organ. Drugs were also administered to suppress immunity.
After a nerver-wracking surgery on September 23, 2003, the medical team froze till the donor kidney turned pink with blood an indication that it was accepted. If rejected, it would have turned blue.
Ayyamma says the Army covered the surgery expenses. Muthuraj was discharged from it with a monthly pension of Rs.3000. She laments that finding a job now is difficult as he is hard of hearing. This and the help they get from people around is insufficient to meet the monthly drug expense of Rs.15,000, she claims.
Dr. Balasubramaniyam says Muthuraj may require a cochlear implant to enable him to hear. This involves a huge cost and they look for help on this front, says Ayyamma.
- The Hindu, January 26, 2006.
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