CA seeks ‘lungful’ of happiness for soulmate

Every time Sachin Karwa, 37, gets a call from home, his heart sinks. 

“I dread that something has happened to my wife Manisha, who has end-stage lung disease. She has been bedridden for the last one year and has been put on oxygen 24x7,” says the chartered accountant from Vile Parle.

“Doctors have told me anything can happen to her at any time. I have accepted this reality, but am not losing hope,” he adds with a weak smile. “I always try to keep a positive environment at home and we discuss everything about the disease.”

The couple had a love marriage 13 years ago.
Manisha had to quit her job in the accounts department of a private airline last year after she had been diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, which causes pulmonary fibrosis. The 36-year-old urgently needs a lung replacement. There is no known cause of this disease.

In addition to poor awareness about lung transplant and its procedures in Mumbai, there has been only one such transplant in Maharashtra to date — at PD Hinduja Hospital in Mahim last month.

To create awareness about lung donation and seek amendments in the Human Organ Transplantation Act,1994, Sachin and Dr Jnaesh Thacker, lung transplant surgeon at PD Hinduja Hospital, had met the state health secretary. “In the last one year, I have read almost everything about the disease, including clinical trials, online. I had also approached a pharmaceutical company in the US and discussed my wife’s case. But they had said the drugs trial is still in the clinical stages,” says Sachin.

“I can afford her costly medicines, but what about the poor? I plan to create a support group for such families,” he says.

The couple’s bedroom looks like a nursing home. In one corner there’s a huge oxygen cylinder and an electronic gadget which support the system. A physiotherapy machine, which she uses to practise walking, stands at the other end of the room.

“As the weather changes, she finds it difficult to breathe. So, I always have to maintain the bedroom temperature. And, as she is bedridden, she has developed a bone-related problem in one of the knees,” says Sachin.

“My office staff and friends are very cooperative. Thanks to the hope they offer, I can do so much for my wife. Even my mother-in-law has been a pillar of strength. She has moved in with us to take care of Manisha,” says Sachin.

“Why has God given her this disease? Every day I pray for a miracle and ask Him to save my daughter’s life,” says Jyoti Telang 66, Manisha’s mother.

There are two things that Manisha wants to do after she gets well — watch a Marathi movie in a theatre and visit the temple near her house.

“I don’t remember which movie I saw last in the theatre with Sachin,” she whispers after removing the mask. “My husband works very hard and takes care of me. I want to live and for that I need a lung. But when will I get it?”

Manisha has been registered with the Zonal Transplantation Co-ordination Committee ( ZTCC) for a cadaver organ. According to a ZTCC official, around they have eight registrations for a lung transplant.