With new hands, he dreams of setting up stationery shop

BENGALURU: Prakash (name changed), a loader from Kadaluru in Tamil Nadu, was at a loss for words when he saw his hands. The 31-year-old couldn’t believe that he had got his limbs back, three years after they were crushed by the mechanical doors of a cargo vehicle. The TN man underwent a bilateral hands transplant at Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry on November 19.
A cadaveric donation has given Prakash the hope to rebuild his world that had collapsed after the November 26, 2015 accident. With no hands to toil, he had been homebound, leaving his family in abject penury. Prakash’s parents had to take care of his family.
But life changed dramatically for Prakash on November 18 last year. A 22-year-old accident victim was declared brain dead at Narayana Hospitals in Bengaluru and his family came forward to donate his vital organs, including his hands. As there was no request for hands before Karnataka’s cadaver transplant authority Jeevasarthakathe, a patient, Prakash, on the waiting list of Tamil Nadu’s organ registry, was chosen as the recipient.
Prakash’s wife recalled the day that changed the course of their life. “It was around 10pm when we got a call from the hospital. We were told that hands were available for transplant. The hospital asked us how long we would take to reach. We rented a car immediately and rushed to the hospital...We had no hope that he would get back his hands. He would like to start a stationery shop once he is back home,” she said.
The hands left Bengaluru at 12.15pm on November 19 and reached JIPMER at 4.15pm. Prakash underwent the transplant the same day and is still recovering at the hospital’s reconstructive transplant ICU.
While he is able to lift his right hand, he is still not able to use it. “At least three months are needed after surgery for sensations to return. Unlike kidney and heart, nerve regeneration for hands takes time and soft tissues need to grow. Soon after the transplant, blood supply was re-established. He is prone to infections and hence, may require hospitalisation for one more month,” said Dr Dinesh Kumar S, head, plastic surgery, chief of reconstructive surgery at JIPMER.
Prakash had registered himself with JIPMER in 2017, after reading a news report about the first hands transplant at the hospital that year.