Kidney donation helps 2 men return to normal life, bonds 3 families

Kochi: Kottayam native Jocy Mathew (53) came to know about organ donation during an event organized at a church several years back. Although he was thinking about this for a very long time, it was four years back that he volunteered to donate his kidney at the Kidney Federation. 

Around 15 months back, his blood group matched with another patient and he underwent several tests. However, the patient died while he was undergoing treatment. Later, he matched with the blood group of Thiruvananthapuram native PK Nandakumar (49) in December.

“The realization that we can make a difference to someone else’s life through our deeds is what motivated me to donate my kidney. It took a while to convince the family about the donation,” Jocy stated.

While Jocy donated his kidney to Nandakumar, Nandakumar’s wife Sindhu donated her kidney to Malappuram native VK Abdul Manof (28). The surgery was completed last week at Kochi Medical Trust Hospital. 

This act of benevolence has enabled two people to regain their health. The 3 families have bonded together since the surgeries were performed together. They remained in the hospital by supporting each other for a month. They hope to meet each other again when returning to the hospital again for follow-up treatment.

The kidney transplantation surgery was done by Nephrologist Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, Anaesthesiologist Dr. K Vinodan, Dr. Joshy Jose and Urologist Dr. Sachin Joseph.