Dad gives part of his liver to save daughter

[email protected] (Gulf News)
June 3, 2012

Dad_give_liver_to_daughter

New Delhi, June 3: Malik Sarsa Khan and his wife Syeda were heartbroken when their three-year-old daughter Samreen Fatima was diagnosed with liver cancer. The Khans had lost five children before. And Samreen was born seven years after the death of their last child.

Residents of Pakistan, the couple prayed for some miracle to happen. A driver by profession, Khan did not have the means for her treatment abroad. But when the doctors advised that he could take his daughter either to China or India for treatment, Khan was overwhelmed.

“I had full faith in Indian doctors and knew then that I would not lose Samreen. She could barely speak a word and would run high fever every other day. But suddenly I became hopeful,” a beaming Khan told Gulf News from Pakistan.

He immediately approached the Pakistan government for financial help. Soon, both parents headed for India with their daughter. But on their way, were robbed off at gunpoint in Lahore. But Khan decided not to lose heart and managed to reach Apollo Hospital in Delhi.

Though the Pakistan government supported him yet again, Khan was dismayed not to find a liver donor. But his disappointment was short-lived. The doctors suggested he could donate a part of his liver and Khan readily agreed. Only 20 per cent portion of his liver was required to save his daughter.

Explaining the surgical process, transplant surgeon Dr Subhash Gupta said, “The transplant involved a part of the left lobe of the liver of the father being retrieved in a meticulous seven hour operation. It was followed by transferring the graft in a bowl covered with ice to the adjoining operation theatre. The child’s damaged liver was removed and replaced with the father’s graft liver.”

After a 10-hour surgery, Samreen was cured.

Khan is all praise for the doctors. He said, “They were God sent. We can never forget their kindness and efficiency. Dr Anupam Sibal treated Samreen like his own daughter and went out of his way to provide us help. When we overshot our budget, he gave us further discount.”

Providing details of Samreen’s condition, Dr Sibal, group medical director of Apollo Hospital, said, “We were told that the child had jaundice immediately after her birth and several episodes of vomiting blood. She had to be transfused blood on multiple occasions and was thereafter referred to Pakistan for transplant.

“When we first saw her, Samreen was malnourished and unable to walk. Initially, we were worried whether she would be able to withstand the liver transplant. But after further tests we felt she had a good chance of making it, as we had successfully done transplants for very small children with Progressive Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis (PFIC).

PFIC is an inherent condition and Khan said Samreen could be suffering from it because he was married to his cousin sister – a practice followed in his family for over three generations.

Dr Gupta details, “The liver is responsible for making bile. But the build-up of bile in PFIC causes liver damage. This eventually leads to scarring in the liver that results in cirrhosis or cancer.

“Samreen is fine now and has to undergo monthly checks for the first six months and then every three to six months. She will be like a normal child, but will have to take anti-rejection medicines throughout her life. This is to ensure that the body’s immune system does not reject the liver as a foreign body.”

Khan is slightly perturbed at the cost of medicines and a special brand of milk, recommended by the doctors for his daughter. But seeing his chirpy child all his fears vanish. “I will work hard and earn more to ensure that my child does not face any difficulty,” he says.

After the recovery from operation, Khan has not had any implication. “This is because the liver re-grows to normal size in weeks to months. Also, when an adult donates to a small child, only a very small part of the liver is taken.

“About 60-70- per cent of the liver can be safely donated from a healthy and fit donor, provided the liver is okay,” Dr Gupta informed.



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News Network
June 5,2020

Jun 5: A young woman was forced to drink liquor allegedly by her husband after which he along with four friends assaulted, burnt her with cigarette butts and raped her in front of her five year-old son, police said on Friday.

All the five, who were taken into custody earlier, have been arrested. The shocking incident occurred in the state capital last night.

The incident came to light after the 25-year-old woman, approached police and complained against her husband and his four friends.

A case has been registered against the five accused for kidnapping, assaulting and gangrape.

Since the incident took place in front of the child, a case under Protection of children from sexual offices Act has also been charged against the accused.

Meanwhile, State health and family welfare minister K K Shailaja asked the state police chief to take stringentction against the culprits as "such cruelty happened in front of her child."

The Kerala State Women's Commission on its own registered a case and sought report from the Thiruvananthapuram Rural SP.

She managed to escape from there and pleaded for help from a young man, who saw in heran inebriatedstate, and took her to her house and informed police.

The man later told some television channels that she was crying, had injuries on her face and pleaded for help.

Police have recorded the statement of the woman, who was admitted to a government hospital here and later discharged.

She had also stated that the men had tortured her using cigarette butts.

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News Network
May 28,2020

Hyderabad, MAY 28: A three-year-old boy who accidentally fell into a newly drilled open borewell in Telangana's Medak district was found dead in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

The kid's body was retrieved at around 4 am after a nearly 10 hours' long rescue operation involving different agencies, they said.

"He died a while before we evacuated him, most likely due to the mud that covered him from the top sealing off necessary oxygen supply, " Medak District Superintendent of Police Chandana Deepti told PTI.

The boy had accidentally slipped into the 120- feet borewell at around 5 pm on Wednesday in an agricultural field located in Papannapet mandal of the district when he was walking with his grandfather and father, police earlier said.

As part of rescue efforts, a parallel trench was dug along the borewell hole with the help of earth excavating machines and oxygen was supplied into it, but the efforts went in vain as the boy's body was found stuck at a depth of around 25 feet, the police said.

Apart from the police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were also involved in the rescue operation.

The borewell into which the child fell was one among the three dug by the family since Tuesday night to try and find water for their fields. But none of them yielded any water, police had said.

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News Network
May 9,2020

Shillong, May 9: The poisonous mushrooms that killed six people at a remote village in Meghalaya's West Jaintia Hills district have been identified as Amanita phalloides, commonly known as the 'Death Cap', a senior official said on Saturday.

Six people, including a 14-year-old girl, of Lamin village along the India-Bangladesh border in Amlarem civil sub-division died after consuming wild mushrooms they collected from a nearby forest late last month.

The wild mushroom has been identified as Amanita phalloides and is hepatotoxic as it directly affects the liver, state Director of Health Services (MI) Dr Aman War told PTI.

He said it has been established after an investigation that the cause of the deaths was the poisonous mushrooms.

At least 18 persons from three families were taken ill after consuming the mushrooms.

The symptoms after consuming the poisonous fungus include vomiting, headache and unconsciousness, the senior doctor said.

Most of those taken ill, including a pregnant woman, have already recovered and gone home. Therefore, people can survive as it depends on the amount of poison that you have consumed. Only one person was unaffected, maybe he did not consume much, he said.

Three people are still undergoing treatment and are recovering. Two of them are at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and one in Woodland Hospital, Dr War said.

He said the health department can only appeal to the people, especially those in the rural areas, to refrain from eating wild mushrooms, while the horticulture department should take measures to create awareness.

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