Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed an Amritsar family during ‘Mann Ki Baat’ program to highlight the importance of organ donation. He narrated the story of a family from Amritsar who lost their 39-day-old baby girl due to a fatal disease but saved the life of a young boy by donating her organs. He hailed the parents and stated that he is yet to meet these strong mother and father.
Sukhbir Singh Sandhu who is father of 39-day-old girl works as an agriculture development officer with the Punjab government in Amritsar. He along with his wife welcomed a baby girl on 28th October 2020 and named her as Abadat Kaur.
She was born as a healthy child but as days passed by Abadat was diagnosed with a fatal disease called 'Vein of Galen Malformation (VOGM)'. This malfunction causes oxygen-filled blood flows directly through the vein but instead of going to the brain, it delivers blood to surrounding brain tissues. This puts pressure on the brain causes congestive heart failure or pulmonary hypertension.
When she was just 24-days old, Abadat suffered a heart attack after which she was referred to PGIMER in Chandigarh. On 39th day, she again suffered a heart attack and died. This came as a huge shock to the parents but they stood up strong.
The family decided to donate her organs so that it could save life of other children. Her kidneys were the only organs that could be donated as she was too young.
Recollecting the story her parents stated, “After Abadat’s death, we decided to donate her organs. No family member objected to our decision; rather, they supported us. We are proud that our little baby girl was able to save life of another person.”
In November 2020, family received a letter from Dr Ashish Sharma, head of the department of renal transplant surgery in PGIMER revealing how their daughter saved life of another person. He stated that kidneys of Abadat were successfully transplanted in an 15-year-old boy from Patiala who was detected with kidney failure.
Apart from Abadat, the Amritsar family has a 5-year-old son. The family also received a call from PM Modi hailing their decision. They stated, “PM Modi called us up and spoke for 10 minutes. He told us that the nation is very proud of the family as we are following gurus’ teaching."
