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A brain-dead Indian became a ray of hope for a 19-year-old Pakistani girl who has been living with an ailing heart for the past five years. This year on January 31, Ayesha Rashan was given the heart of a 69-year-old brain-dead Indian which saved her life. 

 

Doctors from Chennai-based MGM Healthcare transplanted the heart of a brain-dead patient, aged 69, flown in from Delhi to her. 

 

"I can breathe easy now," said Rashan in conversation with The Time of India. Rashan who aspires to be a Fashion Designer one day, said, "I am planning to complete my schooling in Karachi, Pakistan, and I want to become a Fashion Designer." 

 

Rashan came to India in the year 2019, when she suffered cardiac arrest, leading to heart failure.  

 

Senior cardiac surgeon Dr. K R Balakrishnan recommended a heart transplant for her. Subsequently, she was placed on the state organ registry's waitlist. 

 

As an interim action before the transplant, doctors implanted a left ventricular assist device in Rashan. It is a mechanical pump aiding the left ventricle in blood circulation. 

 

After returning home, she faced additional complications in 2023 when her right ventricle failed, compounded by an infection.  

 

Rashan was told that a heart transplant was her only option left. Rashan's Mother Sanober Rashan then receives a call on January 31, 2024, from the hospital about her daughter finally getting a brain-dead heart donor. 

 

Dr K G Suresh Rao, co-director at the hospital's Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support, cited, "A heart is allotted to foreigners only when there is no prospective recipient in the entire country. Since the patient's heart was that of a 69-year-old, many surgeons hesitated." 

 

Rao then stated that they decided to take a risk since the donor's heart was in good condition. 

 

"We decided to take the risk partly because the condition of the donor's heart was good and partly because we knew that this was Ayesha's only chance, " said Rao. 

 

As a result, the surgery turned out to be successful and the 19-year-old was then removed from the life support.