Karnataka: Organs of brain-dead teenager Megha S save 3 lives

BENGALURU: A 16-year-old girl from Chikkaballapur district, who fell into an open well on Monday while trying to pluck mangoes in a farmland, sustained head injuries and was declared brain dead. But she turned saviour for a few others after her family donated her vital organs.
Megha S, who belonged to a joint family in Karahalli village of Chikkaballapur, had just delivered lunch boxes to her family members working in the fields.She headed back home around 1.30pm and, on her way, tried plucking mangoes from trees. In the process, she fell into the well.
She was first taken to a private hospital in Devanahalli and then to Aster CMI Hospital in Bengaluru around 4.30pm the same day. After two days on ventilator, her condition did not improve and she was declared brain dead around 11.45pm on Wednesday.
Her family consented to donate her organs. While her kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas and corneas were intact, her lungs could not be used.
An eight-minute green corridor was created from Aster CMI to MS Ramaiah Narayana Heart Centre at 8.45am on Thursday for the movement of her heart, which went into a seven-year-old girl. Her liver and left kidney were transplanted into a 46-year-old man. The pancreas and right kidney were used for a 33-year-old woman. Her corneas were also donated.
Dr Chinnadurai R, lead consultant, critical care, Aster hospitals, Bengaluru, said the girl didn’t drown and it was a dry well. “The incident took place around 1.30pm on April 18 and the family members came to know about her fall only after half an hour, after searching for her everywhere,” said Dr Chinnadurai.
He said it was the first case of a person falling into an open well and becoming an organ donor that he had seen in his career as an intensivist. The girl hit her head on a stone, which led to a grievous injury in the brain. She also had a deep cut on the head.
“It was a case of brain injury after the fall. She was on ventilator, but her condition only worsened. Her’s was a case of a potential organ donor with brain stem death. Along with Jeevasarthakathe coordinators, we discussed the possibilities of organ donation with her parents and they agreed amid their grief,” said Dr Chinnadurai.
Due to aspiration of blood and saliva into the lungs during the accident, they were damaged, the doctor said.