Gift of life from Bangalore

new delhi/bangalore: a delhi woman was on sunday donated a liver which was flown over from bangalore in a chartered helicopter. this was the longest ever chartered flight to have carried a liver container. "reena (name changed), aged 37, a resident of pandav nagar, had come to me about three months ago and she was in the advanced stage of liver cirrhosis, a condition where the liver starts shrinking thus reducing its function."the only choice left was for her to undergo a liver transplant," said dr rajashekar from indraprastha apollo hospital who conducted the operation in delhi. unable to get a half-donor from her relatives, reena got a new lease on life when she received a cadaver donor in faraway bangalore on november 4. the man's family had offered to donate his liver after he was declared "brain dead". reena's family in delhi then hired the helicopter to carry the "gift" — a liver donated by a 27-year-old youth who died in a road accident on saturday. with liver transplantation required to be done within 12 hours of its retrieval, the helicopter landed at the st john's hospital in bangalore at 11.45 am the same day. then surgeon rajashekar picked up the "liver container" and flew back to jakkur airfield, from where it was transported to an aircraft which immediately took off for the capital. "the entire process of retrieving the liver from the donor's body to replanting it in reena's body took 10 hours," dr rajashekar said. barring one relative, sunita, reena's entire family was in hospital when the times of india approached her. "at the moment we are ecstatic and also apprehensive about her well-being. we can't be sure till the doctors give cent per cent nod about her recovery," said sunita. on the huge expenses, sunita said: "we were not left with any choice. doctors had given reena only three months to live and she has a seven-year-old daughter to take care of. for her sake, we put our entire savings at stake. if successful it will be worth it." "reena is responding well. though she is on a ventilator and not bleeding, the observation is often protracted to three weeks," said dr rajashekar. he said if reena continued to be stable she would lead a healthy and full life. however, speaking on the steep cost of the entire operation, including the cost of a chartering a helicopter from bangalore, dr rajashekar said: "it cost her family about rs 20 lakh. fortunately, she comes from a business family who were able to bear the cost." the same treatment in the us would cost about rs 1 crore in the us and rs 80 lakh in uk, he concluded. liver's long flight new delhi: reena's family in delhi hired a chopper to carry the "gift" — a liver donated by a 27-year-old youth, who died in a road accident in bangalore on saturday. the entire process of retrieving the liver from the donor's body to replanting it in reena's body took 10 hours. a relative of reena said: "we were not left with any choice. doctors had given her only three months time and she has a seven-year-old daughter to take care of. for her sake, we put entire savings at stake. if successful it will be worth it. the doctor said reena was responding well. "though she is on a ventilator support and not bleeding, the observation is often protracted to three weeks," he said.