Have a ‘heart’ for this mother of four

Manoj Kumar Gupta's faith is hanging by a thread. He hopes against hope that his wife, Saroj, who  suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy — a condition in which the heart become so weak and enlarged that it cannot pump blood efficiently — will soon find an organ donor.

“Is it possible to replace my wife’s heart with someone else’s? I don’t know anything about such a surgery. But if it is possible, I wish that we find a cadaver heart soon,” says the security guard who lives in Bandra with Saroj and their four children.

Forty-year-old Saroj has been suffering from heart ailments since 2008, but her things took a turn for the worse in the last two months. Even a five-minute walk leaves her feeling restless, her pulse rate gallops and she sweats profusely. That her spirits are also down has left little to look forward to.

A heart transplant can cost anywhere between Rs15 lakh and Rs20 lakh. But for the Guptas, money is hard to come by. So, Gupta doubles as a milkman in the morning before heading off for work to scrounge every little money he can for Saroj's treatment and well as to meet the family's expenses.

The Asian Heart Institute in Bandra-Kurla Complex has offered to bear all expenses, including those for post-operative care since it needs a volunteer to start its heart transplantation programme. “We don’t know if this operation will succeed. We have never heard of it,” shrugs Gupta. He adds that doctors have said a heart transplant is the only option left. “Angioplasty and bypass have been ruled out.” The pressure on her heart also poses a risk to her lungs and liver.

But enrolment in the hospital's heart transplantation programme isn't enough. Sixteen years after the state health department granted permission to seven city hospitals to perform heart transplants, not a single such surgery has been performed, simply because there have been no organ donations. Blame it on the lack of awareness.

“Saroj is the perfect case for a heart transplant because her heart's pumping rate is below 15%. A normal rate is usually 60%-70%. Her heart is enlarged and in such a situation, going for bypass surgery or angioplasty has no benefits. We will soon register Saroj’s name in the ZTCC registry,” says Dr Santosh Kumar Dora, cardiologist and coordinator, heart transplant, Asian Heart Institute.

Winning Saroj over has been a tough task, though. “I don’t want surgery,” she says categorically. “I need medication that can save my life. My husband says a transplant is our last option. That's why I have agreed to this surgery. But who will donate his/her heart to me? Now, I am unable to do anything. I can neither breathe nor walk properly. What is the point of living like this?”  

Gupta shudders at the thought of a life without Saroja. “The family is dependent on her. She holds us together,” says the 46-year-old as his voice trails off.