‘My son is still alive’: As family performs his last rites, Ahmedabad boy’s heart continues beating — in another teen

“By the time the cremation was over, the transplant of his heart was complete. In a way, my son is still alive,” he said.

His hands were donated to someone in Faridabad and lungs to a 22-year-old in Ahmedabad. His kidneys went to two teenagers, and corneas will give sight to someone.

A Class 12 science student, Krish was riding a two-wheeler to his tuition centre on a busy road on March 28 when a mini truck on the opposite lane blew the horn to drive away a blue bull on the road. The startled bull jumped across the divider onto the boy.

“Krish had no time to react. The weight and force of the blue bull was so much that it directly hit his face. His left side of the face was bleeding and the eye was damaged. Locals called the 108 ambulance and Krish was aware enough at the time to give them his mother’s phone number. We reached the spot immediately, but a lot of blood loss had already occured,” says Dr Akbari.

After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) his pulse revived a bit at the hospital and the bleeding was controlled but there was no movement and no awareness.

He was placed on a ventilator. The following day (March 29), an MRI was done at Marengo CIMS Hospital, but doctors told the family that there was no blood supply to the brain. “At the time of the accident for about 20-30 minutes the heart was shut so the brain got no oxygen supply and several brain cells had got permanently damaged,” Dr Akbari said.

Dr Akbari, whose brother is a spine surgeon, said the family’s medical background helped them understand the situation. “Other organs can survive for some time, but the brain cannot survive a 30-minute window without blood supply,” he said. “Even for a coma, at least one brain cell needs to be alive — and he didn’t even have that.”

Two apnea tests — conducted as part of the brain death protocol — confirmed that there was no brain activity.

“At that time, your mind does not work,” he said. “At that point, there was no treatment, no surgery, no possibility. If there was even a small hope, I would have taken him to any corner of the world. But there was no option,” he says.

The option of organ donation was then discussed with the family.

“We decided — his mother and I — that we should save as many lives as possible. We didn’t choose the recipients. We just gave approval, the government handled the rest,” he says.

Krish’s heart, lungs, kidneys, cornea and hands were donated through the government’s centralised organ allocation system.

On Friday, at his prayer meet the kids of his age who came to grieve with the family were given a personalised bottle of perfume with Krish Akbari’s name inscribed on it, his father said.

Father seeks govt action

He also pointed to the circumstances of the accident, urging authorities to address incidents involving blue bulls on city roads.

“What happened to my child can happen to anyone,” he said. “The government must act so that such incidents do not repeat.”

In the days since, the family has received messages from across the country, but Dr Akbari says the focus should remain on awareness. “When you know the body cannot survive but the organs can help someone else, you should consider it,” he said.

A statement from Marengo CIMS said this was the “first-ever hand donation in the private sector”.

(Nishant Bal is an intern at The Indian Express, Ahmedabad)