“We lost our daughter, as we could not save her life. But our wish is to save the lives of other children. That is the reason why we decided to financially aid the heart surgery of a young girl, to give her a new life,” said Dr Umesh Sawarkar, who lost his three months old daughter to a tragic car accident, last year in December.
Their daughter, Meera, was put on a ventilator, but eventually became brain-dead. When this happened her parents decided to donate her organs, they were told that organ donation of such a young child isn’t allowed in the country. But, the doctor couple appealed for an organ donation procedure. While waiting for a response on their plea, their daughter went into cardiac arrest and died.”
Although they were devastated Dr Umesh and his wife, Ashwini decided to help children who were in dire need of a surgery, but lacked funds. Their noble gesture, helped give Payal, a four-and-a-half-year-old girl a new lease of life.
Dr Umesh who is a gynaecologist and his pathologist wife started visiting hospitals over the past three months, searching for children in dire need of financial help.
While speaking to My Medical Mantra, Dr Umesh Sawarkar, said, “Our family met with a road accident in December last year. We lost our three months old daughter due to this accident. When were made aware that she became brain-dead we decided to donate her organ to save the lives of others. But even before she could donate her organs she had a cardiac arrest and died. We intended to save lives through donating her organs, but we could, so we decided to save a life in any possible manner. We helped fund Payal’s heart surgery on the day which would have been Meera’s first birthday.”
Payal Parate was detected with a hole in her heart, due to a congenital disorder. Her family was economically challenged and Priya had been waiting since a year for a corrective surgery as she wasn’t yet approved for government funds. The Sawarkar’ stepped in to help her with the funds and she underwent an open heart surgery on August 21. Payal has made a steady recovery post-surgery.
Apart from Payal, Umesh and Ashwini, had also taken up the cause of financially assisting the heart surgery of Aswashil Dhawale, a five-year-old boy who was facing the same ailment that Payal was affected with.
Dr Umesh informed, “On the day of Aswashil Dhawale, we were informed that the state government approved the funds for his heart surgery, at the last moment. We will use this money which we had reserved for his treatment to some other child who needs a surgery. We are glad we could celebrate Meera’s birthday by giving another child a second chance at life.”