Final wish honoured: Man’s tissue donation gives new lease of life in Mangaluru

Mangaluru: A family's decision to honour a loved one's final wish turned grief into a life-changing gift.Balakrishna Bhat, 57, from Kairangala, died of an intracranial bleed at Wenlock District Hospital Tuesday. Even in death, he gave life and hope to others through tissue donation.As his internal organs could not be harvested due to technical issues, the family consented to bone and skin donation.Dr Vikram Shetty of the Prof M Shantaram Shetty Tissue Bank at KS Hegde Charitable Hospital said Bhat had expressed during his lifetime his desire to donate his body after death.A retrieval team led by Dr Varun Shetty retrieved both ulnae, humeri, femur and tibiae, along with skin grafts. Doctors ensured the donor's dignity, inserting specially designed plastic bones to prevent disfigurement.