Stranger donates liver to give baby new lease of life

While checking his Instagram messages in July last year, sales executive Sakthibalan Balathandautham came across a plea from a young couple looking for a liver donor for their one-year-old daughter, Rheya.

The 28-year-old contacted the couple, and offered to be a donor.

They spoke on the phone and Mr Sakthibalan, who is single, said he wanted to help the family.

"A life was at stake. I knew I wanted to go ahead with it if I turned out to be a match.

"I was worried about undergoing the procedure and my recovery process, but after reading up on how transplant (operations) are conducted, I decided I could handle it."

Rheya was born in July 2019, the first child of Mr Sunil Jayakumar, 31, and Ms Ruthra Saravanan, 30.

She developed persistent jaundice in her first month and after her condition did not improve, she was referred to the National University Hospital (NUH).

There, she was diagnosed with biliary atresia - a rare disease in infants where the bile ducts in the liver are inflamed, blocking bile flow to the gallbladder.

It eventually leads to liver failure.

The doctors suggested a surgical procedure to restore bile flow from the liver to the intestines. She was then 40 days old.

"As parents, we felt anxious and sad seeing surgical tubes attached all over her body for a 10-hour (operation). While we were at the hospital, I saw older children with Rheya's condition coming in for their routine check-ups.

"I thought Rheya could grow up normally to be like them if the procedure worked, but it turned out differently," said Ms Ruthra, a civil servant.

Despite the operation, Rheya's bile flow was still not enough. She needed a liver transplant.

As Mr Sunil and Rheya had the same blood type, he stepped up to be her donor in January last year. But after losing about 12kg and adhering to a strict diet and exercise regime for six months to prepare for the operation, Mr Sunil, a lab executive, was told he was not a suitable match for Rheya.

"That was the first moment I felt helpless and lost," he said. "Almost immediately, we started to reach out to our friends and contacts to find a donor."

Finding a liver donor was a difficult process as the individual needed to be healthy, with no medical problems, and at least 21 years old but younger than 55.

As many of their immediate family and friends did not share Rheya's blood group, and some were stuck overseas due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the couple posted a plea for a suitable liver donor on social media.

Within three weeks, 99 people expressed interest in donating a part of their liver.

After consulting NUH staff, Mr Sunil shortlisted 10 potential donors based on their medical records and lifestyle habits.

Mr Sakthibalan passed the donor suitability test, and underwent reviews and assessments before going for an interview with an ethics committee. He was told about the risks involved and asked why he had offered to be a donor.

Mr Sakthibalan received encouragement from his employer, who gave him time off to attend the tests and assessments and to recover from the operation.

On Sept 30 last year, Mr Sakthibalan donated 23 per cent of his liver.

Rheya began a slow and steady recovery process, which included taking immunosuppressants to prevent transplant rejection.

Mr Sakthibalan was discharged four days after surgery and soon resumed his normal lifestyle, including sports activities like volleyball and running.

The identity of the final selected donor was kept confidential unless he chose to contact the family.

He reached out to Mr Sunil by calling him one day, and explained that he was the person selected as Rheya's donor. Mr Sunil and Ms Ruthra, who have pledged to donate their organs after their deaths, hope their experience can encourage more people to step up and be donors for patients in need.

NUH figures show that between 2013 and June 2019, 20 people donated part of their liver to help someone they did not know.

"We understand it is not an easy decision to make, especially to help a stranger, but Sakthibalan made a selfless choice, and we will always be grateful to him for it," Mr Sunil said.