Even in death, two-year old gives life to four children
Yatharth was declared brain-dead on December 14 and his parents Rajalaxmi and Amit gave their consent to harvest and donate his organs.
Few days before the third birthday of Yatharth - the brain-dead toddler who could not survive, his parents speak about how their son still continues to live within other four kids. Amit Upadhayaya, Yatharth’s father, believes that their son has done a great deed and is still alive in those children to whom Yatharth's organs were donated.
On December 11, 2014, two months before his third birthday, Yatharth was admitted to MediHope Hospital, Bangalore. Doctors could not find the cause of his persistent fever. Following a seizure, Yatharth, who would have celebrated his birthday on January 20, was given an injection that worsened his condition and he suffered a cardiac arrest. Yatharth was declared brain-dead on December 14 and his parents Rajalaxmi and Amit gave their consent to harvest and donate his organs. Both his wife and father supported Amit's decision and he thought it would lessen the pain of other parents and through this Yatharth will get the chance to live through other children.
A Green Corridor was set up in Bangalore five days later, to transport the heart from Bangalore to Fortis Hospital in Chennai. There, a Russian family was given Yatharth’s heart for their 33-month-old child. Yatharth’s other organs were donated to different families in the city who were in need.
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A version of this story was originally published in The Observer, a newspaper co-ordinated by print students of Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media.