In death, he gave life and sight to others

It has only been a week, since 20-year-old Muthu Kumaran’s family bade a final goodbye to him. His house in Perumbakkam still bears his imprints in every nook and corner of the house. In the hall, a photo of a cheerful Muthu greets us; his books have been lined up against it, with his favourite packet of biscuits on top of the pile. His bike key and cell phone make up for the rest of the belongings around the picture. In one corner of the room, his parents sit — weary and moist-eyed. You mention Muthu, a smile lights up his mother Chitra’s face. “Will I be able to see the people who have got a new lease of life, after my son?” she asks. Her husband and Muthu’s father Ravi, an entrepreneur who moved to Chennai from Payyanur village in 1989, looks at her, unsure if he could help her get some respite from her grief. 

On January 9, Muthu was declared brain dead by doctors at SIMS Hospital, Vadapalani. He had suffered a head injury the previous day, in a road accident. However, in the hour of grief, Ravi took a courageous decision of donating his organs. After the family volunteered for this brave act, his kidneys were harvested and transplanted at SIMS and liver was transplanted in a 54-yearold from Tiruchy.  

The cornea was donated for a transplant at SRM Medical College Hospital and the heart was sent to another hospital in the city. Chithra can’t believe her boy is gone. He was more like a friend, she says and he could never see me sad, she says, wiping a tear. “Now, he is gone, leaving me behind in deep sorrow,” she says. She pauses to recount his dreams of being an accountant. “He would only study in the last minute, but he did very well in studies,” she adds with a sad smile. Muthu, who was studying in third year BCom at SRM College, was geared up to pursue his Masters. 

Ravi says he had heard and read about many organ donation cases in the recent past. But he had never imagined that he would be in a situation to decide on donating his young son’s organs. 

His close family friend Muthu Kumar and his wife Rekha were by their side at the hospital. The family friend, Muthu says, “They turned to us for guidance when Muthu was in the hospital. It was a difficult decision to make, but when we explained how their decision can save many lives, they immediately agreed.” For Rekha, whose younger brother Varun was Muthu’s best friend since school, he was like another brother. “He was so humble, lively and friendly. Varun and Muthu were inseparable,” says Rekha. 

Ravi knows life would never be the same again for his wife and him, and their second son Aravind, a college student. He recounts how his son’s life revolved around his craze for multimedia and his friends. “He was always surrounded by friends. He would spend all his time with them. At least 500 of his friends attended his funeral,” he says, clearing his throat. 

“He nurtured a deep passion for web design. In school, he came third in web designing,” adds Ravi. The family has decided to fund the education of any underprivileged student, in memory of their son. 

The tragic loss will haunt him all his life, but Ravi seeks one consolation. “I get some peace of mind thinking that he is alive in another form. He is no longer amidst us, but I am glad he has gifted life to others,” Ravi says. To this Chithra adds, “I know he now lives in five other people,” she says.