Rapid organ transport gives Malappuram teen a new life

Kochi: A hospital in Kochi performed a successful heart transplant on a 15-year-old girl from Malappuram on Thursday, using a donated organ from Jayi Jayakumar, 35, a Thiruvananthapuram-based IT professional declared brain-dead on April 4. Jayi, a native of Kilimanoor, was declared brain-dead while undergoing treatment in Thiruvananthapuram. The recipient had been suffering from abnormal enlargement of the heart's right chambers and had been on the K-SOTTO transplant registry for just a month. Her family was in Chennai seeking faster options when the notification came Wednesday night. They flew back immediately. At 4am Thursday, a team from Lissie Hosipital left for Thiruvananthapuram. The heart departed by a helicopter at 1.45pm, landed in Kochi at 2.40 pm, and reached the hospital via a police green corridor in four minutes. Surgery, led by Dr Jose Chacko Periyapuram, began immediately. By 5.30 pm, the heart was beating. The procedure was completed by 9pm. Doctors said the next 48 hours remain critical. Jayi's other organs were also transplanted, one kidney to Kozhikode Govt Medical College, the other kidney and liver to KIMSHEALTH, and both corneas to the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Thiruvananthapuram.tnn