Focus SUNDAY STARJuly 21 200216

AGRANDMOTHER learned aboutorgan donation at the age of 79.

“When I die, make sure youdonate my corneas,’’ K. Gnanahad told her daughter V. Chitra

in 1999.Her last wish was fulfilled when Chitra

signed the consent form for doctors toremove her mother’s corneas in the coro-nary care unit in the National HeartInstitute (IJN) recently when Gnana diedof advanced heart disease at 82.

Chitra recalled her mother as anunusual, active, neat and forward-think-ing lady who loved reading. An exampleof her non-conservative mentality wasbest shown when she supported her niecewho married outside her community.

“She accepted it although her niece’sparents objected,’’ Chitra said.

Although she was a housewife, Gnanabelieved in women standing on their ownfeet financially.

It was the same for organ donationwhen it came to accepting the concept.

Chitra, who accompanied her motherto IJN for medical check-ups from 1998,discovered organ donation from hearttransplant co-ordinator sister S. Rama-yee.

Eventually, she signed up to pledgeher organs and so did her daughter R.Sreedhevi.

An English teacher at SM SultanahAsma in Alor Star, Chitra said she usedto drop by at Ramayee’s room whenevershe was in IJN to get posters and pam-phlets promoting organ donation.

“I passed the pledge forms to friends,students and temples. I also used thematerials to teach English to my FormSix students,’’ she said.

Chitra shared organ donation informa-tion with her mother and the latterresponded by expressing her intention todonate even though she did not pledge bysigning up the donor form.

“The phone number to contact the hos-pital (for a possible donation) is actuallypasted on the fridge in the kitchen,’’ saidChitra.

However, she had not expected thesudden death of her mother in IJN.

“It was one of her routine visits to IJNand I never thought that it would be herlast day,’’ said Chitra.

Gnana died after two heartattacks while she was in IJN.

Chitra only rememberedher mother’s wish to donateher corneas when IJN staffasked about removingGnana’s body.

Against the grief she wasfeeling, Chitra called Rama-yee, who happened to be at theKL International Airport wait-ing to board a flight toPenang.

Ramayee contacted the eye ward ofthe Kuala Lumpur Hospital and a doc-tor was sent to IJN to retrieve thecorneas.

When Ramayee arrived in Penang andcalled back, the removal of the corneashad been completed.

Chitra was happy to learn that hermother’s corneas had been transplantedon a 37-year-old postman. It was a happytwist of events: her grandfather hadbeen a postmaster in India.

When last heard, the postman fromPenang was recovering well.

Chitra’s husband, Datuk Dr L.R.Chandran, chief physician at the AlorStar Hospital, said: “I am proud of mymother-in-law. Growing up in a conserv-ative world, it is an extra mile on her partto have done that.”

Older people tend to be more wary about donating their organs while the younger generation looks at it more realistically. Grandmother K. Gnanawas a rare person, in more ways than one. LEE YUK PENG reports.

A forward-looking grandma

SUPPORTIVE FAMILY … V. Chitra in a family photo with her late mother K. Gnana, her husband Datuk Dr L.R. Chandran andtheir daughter R. Sreedhevi.

K. GNANA, 82, is probably the oldest amongthe 85 cadaveric donors in the country so far.She was also the fourth senior citizen donor.

Based on records kept by the NationalTransplant Resource Centre, three senior citi-

zens before her had donatedorgans and tissues such as

kidneys and corneassince transplant opera-tions started in 1975in the country.

A 75-year-olddonated a pair ofcorneas from home.

Another donated apair of kidneys at the

age of 62 and the thirdwas a 66-year-old multi-

organ donor, giving kidneys,corneas and heart valves.

The centre had only managed to trace therecords of 64 of the donors due to incompletedata.

The centre’s co-ordinator Dr Lela YasminMansor said kidneys and heart valves wereharvested from donors diagnosed to be braindead with consent from family members.

For tissues such as corneas, donation waspossible in natural death cases. Doctors couldremove such tissues from a deceased afterthe heartbeat had stopped for six hours, shesaid.

Dr Lela said it was more difficult for theelderly to consent to donating organs. “Theolder generation is more conservative.,’’ sheadded.

“There were times when younger membersof the family consented to donating organs but

the older ones were against the idea,’’ she said.Nevertheless, with increasing awareness, Dr

Lela said “it’s getting better nowadays andthere are improving signs.’’

Currently, the centre has about 56,000 peo-ple who have pledged to donate organs, themajority of whom are of the younger genera-tion.

Cornea transplant co-ordinator Dr SahimiSulaiman said there was no “ceiling’’ in termsof age for a cornea donor.

“The minimum age for one to donate corneasis two years old,’’ he said.

Except for those who had done eye surgery,anyone could be a potential cornea donorincluding those who wear glasses, he said.

Organs from four senior citizens