The almond blossoms in the small hamlet, Parigam, in central Kashmir’s Pulwama district is a viewer’s delight. Everyone loves to be part of this natural event, to walk around in between the blossoming trees and to have a feel of the green yield to be. Eight years back it was not so for a ‘couple’ from this village. They had not been to their orchard for years. The reason being the illness Zamrooda, a housewife, has had. She was diagnosed with renal limited vasculitis, a rare form of kidney disease that needs vigorous immunosuppressive therapy. Her husband, Khurshid Ahmad, an engineer by profession (now retired) took the illness with stride and did whatever the doctors at SKIMS Nephrology department asked for. However, the disease had its ill- effect on the kidney and she had to be on peritoneal (home) dialysis. The family was also asked to prepare for kidney transplant. Fate, Khurshid would just utter to himself, never complaining, never arguing, doing silently whatever he was asked to do. He himself came forward as the potential donor, much to the reluctance of his wife, who felt he should not. He persuaded the doctors to go ahead with the investigations he was to have. He was prepared. However, the rare illness that Zamrooda had, precluded her from undergoing the transplant surgery for more than two long years. Khurshid did all that was asked for and managed his wife so well on dialysis that she never ever had any infection, so common in these patients. The love and care rendered by Khurshid was evident by the excellent general condition of Zamrooda. Khurshid had given his heart to Zamrooda some 3 decades back and now hand in hand he was willing to give his kidney as well to his everlasting love.
Kidney transplant remains a distant dream for most of Kashmiri patients with only about 5% of all end stage kidney diseases patients going for transplantation. Living related/unrelated kidney transplant is the only being done here, with cadaveric transplantation still a distant dream. The donation of an organ by either husband to wife or vice versa is called spousal donation. This is increasingly becoming a source of organs, especially kidney, in patients suffering from CKD who do not have blood-related family donors available for various reasons. Spousal donors are a promising potential living donor source to fulfill the unmet need of kidney donors. This has significantly increased the pool of available donors and is making spousal donors the single largest donor group in many centers. Spousal donations have increased in almost all the transplant centers in India, with a corresponding decrease in the related donations. It is the wives who have been the donors in most of the spousal donations with studies revealing in about 90% of all spousal donations, wife is the donor. The reasons cited for female preponderance as donors are higher incidence of kidney disease in men, fear of losing the earning male member, and sociocultural perceptions. Husbands do donate though rarely. Less than 10% of spousal donors are husbands. In SKIMS we did have six husbands as the donors to their wives in last 5 years. Donating a kidney to a spouse is satisfying and this ‘gift of extraordinary value’ surely improves the interpersonal relationship.
Mr Khurshid was always willing to donate his kidney anytime the transplant team in SKIMS would call and he kept to his promise. Zamrooda underwent a successful kidney transplant, with her husband’s kidney comfortably placed in her belly. Within ten days after surgery, Khurshid was back doing his official work. Exemplary, courageous is what Khurshid is. He has proven what many would not dare in our conservative society. He is all praise worthy and we at the transplant unit will always respect and admire him as well as the other five men who did the same for their wives. Their selfless contribution in taking care of their spouses goes well beyond the conventional, for few are as courageous as these men proved. It has been quite a while after the surgery and both of them are living a happy, satisfied and more loving life. This is a story of two beings in love as humans, as husband and wife and as two loving souls. It is now for last four years, hand in hand, they stroll together in their almond orchard. And the blossoming almond trees always shower their love on this lovely couple.
Dr Muzafar Maqsood Wani is Consultant Nephrologist, SKIMS, Soura. He can be reached at mmmwani@gmail.com