Udupi: The family of 76-year-old woman from Gangolli donated her organs on Monday, after she was declared brain dead at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. Her liver, eyes and skin were retrieved for transplantation, giving a new lease of life to patients in need, despite her advanced age.Jenny D’ Souza, homemaker from Gangolli, breathed her last at Kasturba Hospital in Manipal, and her family chose to donate her organs. She had been brought to the hospital after a sudden spell of giddiness that turned within hours into a loss of consciousness, caused by a massive bleed in the brain. Despite every effort, she was certified brain dead. The donation was carried out in coordination with Jeevasarthakathe, Karnataka’s state organ and tissue transplant organisation.Dr Sudhakar Kantipudi,COO, MAHE Teaching Hospitals, said, “We often think of organ donation as something meant for the young. Age is not a barrier to compassion or to donation. Let her memory be the reason a hundred more families say yes.”The hospital placed on record its profound gratitude to the family for their courage and compassion at a time of unimaginable loss, and to the treating teams and transplant coordinators whose sensitivity made this final act of generosity possible.
