Page 13 - Seniorstoday April 2023 Issue

marriage, Kannan stayed resolutely donation worthy. Given these restrictions,
single and never explained his reasons.
Krishnan and Radha were soon blessed
with twin girls, as alike as two peas in a
pod. Providence was choosy indeed and
scripting their lives. The twin tots grew up
in a warm cocoon of not just loving parents
but doting grandparents and a loving uncle
in Kannan as well, to whom they meant the
world.
Their respective lives were otherwise
picture perfect and running their course
till one day Radha’s health took a bad turn,
suffering as she was from atrial septal
defect ( ASD ), commonly termed as a
hole in the heart. Radha had been treated
for it in her childhood and she had been
leading a normal life. But, of late, she had
started experiencing breathlessness and
extreme tiredness for a quite while which
eventually lead to a mild heart attack. It
was diagnoses as an aggravation due to
the recurrence of another tear or hole in
the heart leading to complications and
growing weakness. Specialists advised that
any medication would only be temporary
palliatives with no lasting cure and that
Radha would at best have another six
months to live. The only probable remedy,
albeit not guaranteed, that could perhaps
extend her life by another 10 odd years
could be a heart transplant. Krishnan,
his parents and Kannan were distraught
hearing this and explored the possibility
of a heart transplant, daunting that it was.
The donor heart has to be necessarily
of a person in terminal coma or who is
brain-dead, say due to an accident, where
the brain loses all its functions due to
the accident trauma, but otherwise the
life hangs on a thin balance and the key
organs like the heart, kidney, lungs,
liver etc remain functional and organ-
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #46 | APRIL 2023
the frantic search and spreading the net
through network and contacts, did not
yield any results and time was ticking
away like a bomb. The entire family,
immediate and extended, were coping as
well as possible with medical care, support
and counselling Radha. She herself chose
to stay stoic and cheerful and going about
life as best as possible. Kannan too saw
it as a personal responsibility and stayed
closely involved and supported Krishnan
and Radha and their adorable twin
daughters.
Krishnan and Kannan were always health
conscious and the 6.30 AM morning
constitutional was a must-do daily ritual
for them; jogging 10 km jog along the
highway, close to their home. Careful
as they were, thanks to the measured
thinking of Kannan, they use to run on the
right side of the highway with the traffic
headed towards them, so that they can
keep a watch on the oncoming vehicles
and cautiously stay the course. It was no
different that day, both set out for their
morning jog together at 6.30 am and along
the way started speaking about Radha’s
health and the bleak situation. Krishnan
and Kannan had always been close to each
other. Krishnan, given his nature, poured
his heart out and was inconsolable, while
continuing to jog at slow speed along with
Kannan. Kannan, who was running to
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