A 29-year-old girl donated her organs to “revives” new lives

26/04/2023 11:23

A 17-year-old boy with complex congenital heart disease and pulmonary fibrosis had to depart from life after 2 years of waiting due to not receiving suitable heart and lungs. Two months after his death, his older sister N.T.L.T, 29 years old, in Hanoi donated her heart, one kidney and two corneas to “revive” new lives.

Mr. Ngo Van Thu – T’s father said that N.T.L.T’s younger brother turns 17 this year, he has been suffering from congenital dilated cardiomyopathy since he was 14 years old, has come to Viet Duc University Hospital (VDUH) to seek treatment opportunities. Not only his heart but also his lungs were damaged, requiring a simultaneous heart and lung transplant. The family registered to receive donated organs at VDUH but the hospital had not found suitable donors yet, so he died 2 months ago from pneumonia. Although the pain of grieve has not yet subsided, recently, on February 9th N.T.L.T got into a traffic accident and was diagnosed with severe traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage, Glasgow 3-4 points, 3^rd degree injury of left kidney.

 When they learned that they could not hold on to their daughter’s life, Ms. T’s parents, Mr. Ngo Van Thu and Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha consented to register to donate their daughter’s organs to save the lives of other patients who were on the waiting list for receiving the donated organs. “I know that in the afterlife, my daughter will smile and agree to donate her organs to save lives and T’s little daughter, who is only 5 years old this year, will understand and be proud of her mother when she grows up,” he said. Mr. Thu shared.

And also from Ms. T’s organs donation, for the first time in Vietnam, doctors of VDUH successfully performed a case of simultaneous heart – kidney transplant for a 37-year-old patient in Tay Nguyen, suffering from dilated heart cardiomyopathy, heart failure and severe arrhythmia, leading to end-stage renal failure, requiring continuous hemodialysis for 5-6 years and regular emergency treatment at major cardiovascular centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Hue due to acute episodes of tachycardia. Since all internally medical treatments failed to yield results, after careful evaluation, the hospital’s expert committee agreed to transplant both heart and kidney for this patient with donated organs from a brain-dead donor. The simultaneous heart-kidney transplant for patient Q was performed on February 15th and lasted 10 hours.

After the operation, the functions of the heart and kidneys of patient Q have recovered to almost normal, the patient is able to sit up, eat, walk and communicate, without the need for special cardiac and respiratory support devices. A new life begins again. In a few days, Mr. Q will be discharged from the hospital to return to his hometown, reunite with his family with the heart of a Hanoi’ girl.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Nghia, MD, PhD – Director of the Organ Transplant Center, VDUH said: The hospital has implemented organ transplantation since the early years of the 21st century and is now a leading center in the field of organ transplantation. Up to now, VDUH has performed 1500 kidney transplants, 110 liver transplants, 49 heart transplants, and 6 lung transplants. The experts of VDUH fully master the organ transplant techniques with high professional level, a kidney transplant surgery only lasts about 2-3 hours, liver transplant 4-5 hours, heart transplant becomes routine, coming close to the average time of other countries in the region and the world. The level of organ transplantation in Vietnam is equivalent to that of major organ transplant centers in the world. “We hope that more and more people are willing to donate organs if they unfortunately die to help those waiting for an organ transplant have a better chance of living,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Nghia, MD, PhD – Director of the Organ Transplant Center, VDUH shared.            

Hearts, kidneys, lungs… and the “gifts of life” of organ donors before their death not only save lives that seem hopeless, but also sow faith in life for others. people, especially those with serious diseases. Since then, many miracles have been written. I would like to express my deep gratitude to those who donate tissues, organs and organ donors’ families to prolong life, contribute to spreading the human value “Giving is forever”.