‘Pay It Forward’ Transplant Recipient, Now Counselor With Medical Referrals

Mr.K M Lal is a director with a media organization in New Delhi, and he provides counseling support to renal transplant patients at Medical Referrals.

I was diagnosed with Acute Renal failure in 1999. At the time, I lived in Gorakhpur, India, and was treated there for a year. One of the hardest things to come to terms with was that medication is just treatment, but not the cure. Kidney failure can be alleviated with medicines but not for long.

My symptoms were

• Swelling, especially of the legs and feet
• Little or no urine output
• Thirst and a dry mouth
• Rapid heart rate
• Dizziness
• Loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting
• Feeling confused, anxious and restless, or sleepy
• Flank pain – pain on one side of the back, just below the rib cage and above the waist.

I came to New Delhi to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for further treatment under the care of Professor S. C. Tiwari.

My Whole World Turned Upside Down

Quite honestly, I was in a state of shock when I was told that my kidneys had failed and was told the consequences: seizures, bleeding, coma – and ultimately, death.

I am blessed with two children and I have a very loving wife. We have healthy habits and lead normal lives. None of us, before my diagnosis, had encountered prolonged illness. I don’t drink or smoke. I had a responsible position in an organization. What happened?

At 43, my whole world suddenly turned upside down. My biggest concern was that as the only earning member in the family – how would I take care of my home, children, the whole responsibility of the household – and along with all of this, the expense of my medicines and my treatment, all in the same package. It was a very tense period for me,

There is no specific treatment shown to unequivocally slow the worsening of chronic kidney disease. Diagnosed with severe CKD, the recommendation from Dr. Tiwari was to have a kidney transplant.

I could not put off having a transplant operation, and began the process of looking for a donor.

The first hurdle was: none of my family members had the same blood group match.

Legal vs. Illegal Alternatives

In India, the only way to have a transplant operation is if a family member donates an organ. That route looked like it was shut for me. I also visited the Singapore facilities to Discuss the status of Emotionally related donor and the legalities. Medrefasia guided me and was at my side all the way through in India and in Singapore.

Life was much easier with their support and backing. The doctors provided me complete support and gave a petient ear to my problems. Medrefasia people updated me of all developments taking in the case much before the doctor came in and told me about it.

There are legal ways to obtain a kidney and there are illegal ways. I considered what the consequences of taking the illegal route were. It is illegal to follow that route, but it is not illegal to consider it.

The first thing that occurred to me as I considered it was, even if I did get a kidney replacement, who would verify that it was healthy? Who would verify that the donor’s blood group was a match? Which organization would guarantee that the entire transplant process would be successful with an organ with suspect origins?

The entire transplant process would be a fiasco.

Before abandoning this pathway, I also looked for evidence that there actually were successful transplant surgeries conducted with illegally obtained organs – and the statistics were horrible. The recipients mostly died of infection or poor blood matching, or a variety of other complications.

An angel appeared!

I am highly grateful and thankful to my sister-in-law. She is like an angel to me. If I am here today, and sharing my experience with you all, it is only possible because she donated a kidney to me, and saved my life. When all the doors looked like they were shut, my sister-in-law offered one of her kidneys.

There is a myth that the donor suffers after she donates an organ but I must tell you this is untrue. The donor remains absolutely healthy and does not suffer from any ailments. There is a whole process that a donor goes through, including a thorough medical check and psychological evaluation and counseling which last several weeks.

Gratitude

My transplant has been successful. It has been 6 years. Looking back, I don’t really know how things fell into place. I know I had God on my side and am so grateful to the doctors who treated me – they were God-sent angels.

After the transplant, life has returned to normal – in other words, I have the same kinds of stress and accomplishments as anyone else.

Initially however, I lived in great fear of infection and organ rejection. The doctors assured me that they would let me know if there really was something to worry about, but I couldn’t shake the fear. Finally, I was told that one way to move past the fear could be to take on counseling other people who were facing the situation I had been in not so long ago.

Pay It Forward

I undertook training to be a counselor, and provided support to several hundred people at AIIMS for a few years, and that was hugely satisfying. It was my way of giving back to people – and, without even realizing it, I lost a paralyzing fear.

If you have a question, or need assistance in any way, I am now available here at Medical Referrals.  Please email me, or contact Vikkesh. His organization played a major role in my recovery, and you could not have better professionals on your side.”