Gardener overcomes stigma, donates kidney to daughter

Bengaluru: "I decided I cannot lose her and had to save her," says 59-year-old Krishnappa,  recalling the disturbing day when doctors broke the news about his 12-year-old daughter Deepika's kidney failure.

Breaking the social barriers among people in the lower economic strata which gives importance to the male child, this gardener not only showed them the way but also inspired those who are still battling this stigma.

“I have three children but adore my youngest daughter.  I had to do something and that is why I donated my organ to her,” says Krishnappa.

Deepika was diagnosed with endstage renal failure this year and the family had two options; transplant or dialysis. “Finding a donor becomes a problem. It was heart warming to see an illiterate gardener overcoming social and mental challenges and donate his kidney,” says Dr Saumil Gaur, Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist at Narayana Health City.

Speaking about Deepika’s Congenital Kidney Disease (CKD), Dr Saumil says, “It refers to a condition related to irreversible kidney damage that can further progress to end-stage renal disease. Growth in these children is often slowed and they suffer from associated morbidities like anemia, hypertension, liver ailments and intellectual disability."

He said that the four-hour-long surgery saw a healthy father and a healthy daughter.  Dr Saumil says, “After finding a donor the biggest challenge before us was the size of both the kidneys. Deepika being a kid had a small kidney with small blood vessels and her father had a bigger kidney so that was  a challenge.”