KOLLAM: T. Thulaseedharan, a menial worker with Kollam corporation has now become a real hero by his act of compassion. He donated one of his kidneys to an ailing patient, not a relative, not a friend, but a stranger who needed the organ to live. According to T. Thulaseedharan, 51, he has now found the meaning of life. “I had closely experienced the struggles faced by kidney patients as I used to accompany one of my friends for dialysis. I always had the urge to help them as I found most of them were from destitute families,” Thulaseedharan, hailing from Nanma Nagar 2A at Municipal Colony in Kadappakkada, says.
Thulaseedharan made up his mind to do something really helpful for kidney patients and found that donating his own kidney would be the most helpful. He then decided to learn more about kidney donation. He contacted Ajish Mol from Kollam, who had already donated her kidney some five years back. “From discussions with Ajish Mol, I came to know that donating a kidney does not harm one’s health unless doing heavy manual labour. I decided to go ahead with my dream,” he says.
Thulaseedharan announced his wish to donate his kidney at the inauguration function of Nanma nagar residents association in Kadappakkada. “I being the president of Nanma nagar, announced my wish to donate a kidney and signed the letter at the function in the presence of many dignitaries.”
Thulaseedharan, then found one S.Y. Shajahan from Vallikunnam in Kayamkulam needed a kidney. Shajahan, hailing from a destitute family, sustained his life with the dialyses carried out with the help of voluntary organisations. The transplant took place at Medical Trust hospital in Ernakulam on Tuesday. “My act also gives a message of secularism, as the kidney of a Hindu now fits in the body of a Muslim. In these days of intolerance, people should find this angle also in my act of charity,” he says.
Thulaseedharan has his wife Sarala, three children, and grandchildren as dependents back home. “I wanted to do something for society. We should leave a lasting impression of our life, that we lived here and that can be achieved through acts of compassion,” a happy Thulaseedharan adds.
