Mother's kidney saves 8-year-old's life

Finally, after a six-month interminable wait, Dhurv Ranalkar's (8) family had a reason to smile. Dhruv underwent a kidney transplant procedure on Tuesday at PD Hinduja hospital. The donor was none other than his own mother.

Dhruv was suffering from nephritic syndrome, may be from birth, which is an end-stage kidney disease. While his friends spent their time playing cricket and football, Dhruv was taken out of school and had to be kept on dialysis three times a week for two months, till his mother decided to donate her kidney.

"With huge expenses, lifelong follow-ups and several other challenges, kidney disease in a child is devastating for the entire family. Dialysis is difficult and sometimes not even possible for small children. The only hope is kidney transplant. The right time to intervene is very important in such cases," said Dr Jatin Kothari, nephrologist at the Hinduja hospital.

He added, "Dhurv is very co-operative. Kids generally get very irritated during dialysis. Fortunately, Dhruv always followed doctors' directives in the dialysis room. Both the donor and the recipient are now doing well and are admitted in the hospital."

Acute nephritic syndrome is a group of many symptoms. They generally cause glomerulonephritis, or acute swelling and inflammation of the glomeruli in the kidney. The disease is often caused by an immune response, triggered by an infection or some other disease.

Dhruv's father Dhananjay Ranalkar said, "I can't explain his pain in words. I feel very relaxed after the transplant. It was very difficult to see him on dialysis every alternate day. I am thankful to god and doctors, who did a great job. I am especially thankful to my wife. When she came to know that someone from the family has to donate a kidney, she immediately came forward."