The organs of a 17-year-old college student, whose life was abruptly cut short by a fall from an overcrowded local train, gave new lives to six individuals who desperately needed a transplant to live.

Key Highlights The organs of a 17-year-old college student, whose life was abruptly cut short by a fall from an overcrowded local train, gave new lives to six individuals.

The family, completely new to the idea of organ donation, decided not to let his death go in vain.

Mumbai: The organs of a 17-year-old college student, whose life was abruptly cut short by a fall from an overcrowded local train, gave new lives to six individuals who desperately needed a transplant to live. Bhavesh Digge had promised to return home soon after participating in an International Yoga Day event at his college last Tuesday, but ended up with serious head injuries.

Bhavesh, who was an 11th standard student at the KJ Somaiya College in Vidyavihar, boarded a train from Wadala along with his friends like any other day. According to his friends, as the crowd swelled up in the compartment, he lost his grip and fell off the train between Kurla and Vidyavihar. By the time they could rush to his rescue along with railway constables, he had bled a lot.

He was rushed to the BMC-run Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar where the doctors said his condition was critical. "Doctors told us there was little hope of him regaining consciousness, but we remained hopeful. After 2-3 days, the doctors explained us that he was brain dead and nothing further could be done. They also informed us that he was a potential donor and could save several lives," said Bhavesh's father Dimana Sangapa, who is a driver by profession.

The BMC-run Rajawadi Hospital, neither an organ transplant or a retrieval centre, went out of its way to coordinate with Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee to shift him to the nearby registered centre at the Godrej Memorial Hospital in Vikhroli. "The family was extremely patient as the apnea tests were carried out in intervals of six hours," said Abhijit Sinkar, transplant coordinator at Godrej.

The family, completely new to the idea of organ donation, decided not to let his death go in vain. "Even my wife willingly consented to donate his organs so that the lives of others could be saved," said the father.

They donated his heart, liver, kidneys and corneas.

Bhavesh's heart also powered the Andheri's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital to kickstart its heart transplant programme, providing the city with a second such facility after the Fortis hospital in Mulund. Two of Kokilaben Hospital's waitlisted patients have been hoping for nearly two months to get a suitable heart. The first patient on the list, a 31-year-old woman who was suffering from postpartum dilated cardiomyopathy, was a match for the heart.

"It is a condition where the heart's pumping capacity deteriorates soon after child delivery. The transplant went on well. She is recovering in the ICU post transplant," said Dr Ram Narain, executive director of KDAH.

Bhavesh's liver was transplanted into a 76-year-old man at Global Hospital. One of his kidneys was given to a 29-year-old woman at Jaslok Hospital while another one was transplanted into a 42-year-old man at Godrej Hospital.

