Boy who fell off cycle turns saviour for many

CHENNAI: It is a loss that they would never come to terms with. For the family of the 11-yearold boy whose life was snuffed out after he suffered a fall nearly a week ago and was declared brain dead on Wednesday, life will never be the same.
One moment, the child was happily cycling outside his house at KV Nagar in Porur six days ago, and the next he was rushed to a private hospital in a critical condition after he suffered a fall.“He lost his balance when he jammed the front brakes of his bicycle and fell . The cycle fell on him and the handle bar pierced his eyes. He also sustained a severe head injury,” said a person close to the family.
The boy was treated at the intensive care unit of the hospital for five days before doctors declared him brain dead on Wednesday. Grief counsellors approached the family and broached the subject of organ donation. And the family readily agreed. “There was no need to coax them as they were brave and generously came forward to donate their son’s organs. They just wanted him to be alive in some form,” said a hospital source. The boy’s heart, liver, bowel, pancreas and kidneys were harvested and transplanted in another person.