Parents of 21-year-old who died after falling off a running car donate her vital organs

A Saturday night joyride with friends proved fatal for a 21-year-old fashion designer from Surat. But in her death, she gave a new lease of life to four critically-ill patients after her parents donated her vital organs.

Jhanvi Patel was out with her friends driving around in Vesu, Surat . “While some friends sat inside the car, Jhanvi and one more person sat on the car’s boot. They fell off the running car. Jhanvi sustained a head injury while her friend injured his hand,” Nilesh Mandlewala from Donate Life, an NGO that works towards organ donation, said.

Jhanvi was first taken to the nearby Sanjeevani Hospital where she was given preliminary treatment and later shifted to INS Hospital in Surat. The doctors told the family that she had several fractures and edema in the brain. “By Monday, the edema had increased rapidly and the doctors eventually declared her brain dead,” Mr. Mandlewala, who was called in to counsel the family for organ donation, said. Her parents consented to donate her heart, liver, kidneys, and corneas.

The liver and kidneys were sent to Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre in Ahmedabad for transplant and the corneas were sent to an eye bank in Surat. The heart was transported to Mumbai in one hour and 47 minutes covering 282 kilometres. The heart was taken to the airport in Surat at 7.47 a.m. and a commercial flight carrying it took off three minutes later.

After reaching Mumbai at 8.43 a.m., the organ was transported through a green corridor to Fortis Hospital in Mulund by 9.14 a.m.. It was transplanted to a male patient who had been on left ventricular assist device for over a month, and his heart’s pumping efficiency was dropping drastically. This was the 20th heart transplant carried out in Fortis Hospital this year, and 85th so far.