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PUNE: Nandini (44) was detected with a chronic kidney problem in 2012. Besides the lifestyle changes she adopted subsequently, she also enrolled for a three-year Reiki leadership programme where she met her trainer Punitha (46). They forged a close bond, which was strengthened last month when Punitha donated one of her kidneys to Nandini who was battling end-stage renal failure.“Both my children were small when I was detected with the kidney problem. I tried to keep things under control with lifestyle changes and went for Reiki training in 2014," said Nandini, who runs a preschool in Kalyaninagar.

As her interest grew in the Japanese technique that promotes healing, Nandini joined the leadership programme and met Punitha. “Soon, we were spending a lot of time discussing Reiki and its benefits. We conducted several seminars in Pune while she stayed at my place. We are both from the South, watch the same films, laugh at similar things...it was a friendship that blossomed easily ,“ Nandini said. In January this year, Nandini was put on dialysis. In March, her doctor advised her to go in for an urgent kidney transplant. “We did the tests with a few of my family members but no one's blood group matched mine (B+). Just as I was thinking of putting my name on the organ recipients' list, Punitha volunteered to donate one of her kidneys. As luck would have it, her blood group matched mine," said Nandini.

Incidentally, Punitha had pledged to donate all her body organs eight years ago. “When Isaw Nandini go through dialysis and battle end-stage renal failure, I thought it was only right to donate now than to do it after my death,“ she said.

Punitha's Reiki teacher, Prasad Karmarkar, her husband, Sathya, and their family supported her decision.

This is one of the few cases of organ donation in Maharashtra and perhaps the first in Pune that was cleared on grounds of “affection and attachment“ by the regional authorisation committee. Vrinda Pusalkar, transplant coordinator at Jehangir Hospital , said, “For the first time, we recommended such a case to the committee. We were amazed to see the commitment from the donor.“

The expert committee did not grant the approval initially and transferred the case to the police in Mumbai and Pune to rule out any `monetary consideration' in the transplant. “The police ruled out unfair means in their inquiries,“ said forensic expert Ajay Taware, one of the key members of the committee.

On September 21, a team of doctors at Jehangir Hospital successfully performed the transplant on Nandini. Hospital's nephrologist Shrinivas Ambike said, “Both are doing fine now and slowly getting back to their routine lives."

