Liver Transplant, Financial Aid: How Kerala Boy Was Saved In 24 Hours

A young boy from Kerala faced a life-threatening situation due to acute jaundice followed by acute liver failure. But, his mother who donated a part of her liver, and his entire village’s help with finances helped him survive just within 24 hours.

Alan, a resident of Kottyam’s Mundakayam Chittadi, was severely ill recently and admitted to the Rajagiri Hospital in Kochi. A team of doctors from the hospital – Dr Biju Chandran, a multi-organ transplant surgeon, and hepatologists Dr John Menachery and Dr Cyriac Abby Phillips – told him that a liver transplant was his only hope.

Within hours of looking for a donor – which usually may even take days or months – the boy’s mother, Reena, was found to be the right donor, officials said.

Amid this, several people from the boy’s village, his school administration – Edakunnam Government School, and the Malanad Development Society – a social services organisation set up financial aid for Alan’s surgery and post-operative care.

A day after completing the required formalities, Alan went through a liver transplant surgery, officials said.

“This success is a shining example of what can be achieved when a community, driven by compassion and love, unites for a common cause,” one of the doctors who performed the surgery, Dr Biju Chandran said.

The boy is going through the recovery process at home currently, the doctors said.