A final gift of life: 13-yr-old girl’s organ donation gives two patients a second chance

Raipur: Even in death, 13-year-old Sumana Kundu gave hope to others. The Raipur girl was declared brain dead at AIIMS Raipur after severe neurological complications, but her story would go on to change the lives of two patients awaiting kidney transplants.

Following her death, Sumana’s family consented to donate her kidneys, enabling two transplants that offered a new lease of life to patients suffering from end-stage kidney disease. The donation marked the first paediatric deceased organ donation at AIIMS Raipur.

One kidney was transplanted into a 15-year-old boy from Raipur who had been on dialysis for three years, while the other went to a 45-year-old patient from Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh who had been undergoing dialysis for five years. Both surgeries were successful and the recipients are recovering in the Kidney Transplant ICU.

Sumana suffered from pyknodysostosis, an ultra-rare genetic disorder that causes bones to become abnormally dense yet fragile. Since childhood, she battled severe intracranial hypertension, underwent multiple shunt procedures and later lost her vision due to secondary optic atrophy.

She was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit on May 29 with serious neurological complications. Despite intensive treatment by multidisciplinary teams, her condition deteriorated and she was declared brain dead.

After counselling by transplant coordinators Ambe Patel and Vinita Patel, the family agreed to donate both kidneys. The organs were allocated through the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO), Chhattisgarh, according to waiting-list protocols.

The transplants were performed by teams from urology, nephrology and anaesthesiology. Dr Vinay Rathore said this was the eighth deceased-donor organ donation at AIIMS Raipur and the institute’s first paediatric deceased donation. AIIMS Raipur has conducted 99 kidney transplants so far, including 14 from deceased donors.

Executive Director Lt Gen Ashok Jindal (Retd) thanked the Kundu family for their decision, describing it as an act of compassion and social responsibility. The hospital also accorded a guard of honour to the deceased child in recognition of the family’s contribution.