ST Singaporean of the Year 2021: He donated part of his liver to a baby he had never met
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Despite having no connection to her family, Mr Sakthibalan Balathandautham stepped up to give a new lease of life to young Rheya. For his selfless act, Mr Sakthibalan is nominated for The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year 2021.
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SINGAPORE - He called the couple at about 1am, after he had spent several hours reading up on transplant procedures.
Sales executive Sakthibalan Balathandautham, 28, had come across their plea on Instagram for someone to donate part of his or her liver to their one-year-old daughter Rheya.
A few weeks after her birth in July 2019, Rheya was diagnosed with biliary atresia - a rare disease in infants where the bile ducts in the liver are inflamed, blocking bile flow to the gall bladder. It eventually leads to liver failure.
Despite surgery to improve the bile flow, her condition did not improve and her parents were told she would need a liver transplant.
But family members and friends did not share Rheya's blood group, while others were stuck overseas because of the pandemic, so the desperate parents sought help online.
Mr Sakthibalan, who is single, said: "When I saw it, I thought to myself, there's a girl out there, who is very young, who is looking for a living liver donor.
"I felt this was an opportunity for me to step up and do something bigger."
After several rounds of tests, he donated 23 per cent of his liver to the infant on Sept 30 last year.
He was discharged four days after the operation and soon resumed life as normal. Today, he is in as good health as he was before the donation. Rheya, who began a slow and steady recovery process, is on immunosuppressants to prevent organ rejection, but is doing well.
Mr Sakthibalan said: "Before this experience, I never knew what it meant to be a living organ donor. Seeing Rheya now, I know my decision was the right one."
