Kashmiri woman gets new lease of life after a heart transplant in Chennai

Shahzadi Fathima from Srinagar was lucky to receive the organ amid little hope of survival

A 33-year-old Kashmiri woman will be heading home with the heart of a Tamil youth. Shahzadi Fathima from Srinagar was lucky to receive the organ amid little hope of survival.

For the past six years, Ms. Fathima had been showing worsening signs of heart failure. Three years ago she was referred to R. Ravi Kumar, senior consultant and clinical lead- Cardiology and Heart Failure Programme at MGM Healthcare.

At that time she was prescribed medicines for swelling in her legs and it helped. But the disease progressed and her restrictive cardiomyopathy, a condition where the chambers of her heart stiffened over time, led to severe heart failure.

“In November we received a call from the doctor asking us to come. They hoped to make some arrangement for transplant,” said Ms. Fathima’s brother Yunis, a daily wager.

The siblings took a train to Chennai and were supported by Aishwarya Trust, a non-governmental organisation that finances cardiac surgeries and heart transplant for children. Chitra Viswanathan, who runs the trust, raised the funds.

Ms. Fathima was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 31 with signs of severe heart failure. On January 26, doctors identified a suitable brain-dead donor in a hospital in Tiruchi.

“An 18-year-old boy lost his life in a road accident and his family was willing to donate his organs,” K. Suresh Rao, co-director of the hospital’s Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support said.