THE GOAN
PANAJI
The beep of a dialysis machine determines the routine for some, while for others, endless check-ups and health concerns take up most of the space on their calendars. Then comes a phone call that changes everything, bringing the possibility of a life no longer tethered to machines and medicines.
Long wait
Behind every transplant are stories of years spent waiting, sudden phone calls, difficult decisions, and families who have had to navigate an emotional journey. While medical facilities continue to improve, awareness about organ donation still has a long way to go. For many recipients, their experience has left them with a clear decision: having received an organ transplant, they have now pledged to become organ donors themselves.
A miracle call
For Zeon Romano, an artist and advocate for kidney transplants, the journey began when he was just seven years old. “My kidney problems began when I was just seven years old, and I was diagnosed with Nephrotic syndrome,” he says. His kidneys eventually failed, and he had to start dialysis. “Dialysis became my life. I was constantly exhausted. At one point, I had almost stopped expecting a transplant,” he recalls. Then came the call from Goa Medical College that changed everything. “I had prayed to God just before this, asking Him to do what was right and guide me according to His will, so this was indeed a miracle!” he says.
Mark Rocha’s story is not very different. After waiting for almost seven years, the entertainer and strength and fitness trainer received a call from the SOTTO team informing him that a donor was available. “Everything happened so fast that I barely got any time to process. I got a call from SOTTO telling me that I had to be at the hospital immediately,” he recalls.
A different call
For living donor Sangeeta Nayak, however, the call carried a different responsibility. A psychologist, she remembers receiving a call at around noon telling her that she could be a potential donor for her brother. “My immediate thought was, yes, I will get him out of this,” she says. Today, seeing her brother lead a happy and healthy life brings her immense joy. “All of us siblings are close, but now the connection with my brother feels different. Sometimes it so happens that I think of something and go to call, and he has had the same thought,” she adds.
One moment from the process has stayed with her. When she reached the hospital where the transplant was to take place, she was asked to get a signature from her brother, the recipient. “I went to the room he was in, and he looked disoriented, so I first called him, but he didn’t respond, and then I just said ‘Eh Umya,’ and he immediately responded,” she recalls. His difficulty in even signing his name left her emotional but determined to see him through the procedure. “Now, looking back, I believe, and even the doctors believe, that it was our strong willpower that helped us recover faster,” she says with a smile.
Life after
The transplant changed the everyday lives of the recipients in different ways. Romano mentions that the biggest change is simple: his life no longer revolves around a dialysis machine. But beyond that, the experience has altered how he looks at life. “I have become much more grateful for the little things. A normal day now feels like a blessing,” he says. Rocha expresses a similar sentiment. “My life has not changed much in terms of who I am as a person, but now that I no longer have to spend hours a day in dialysis,” he says. He is now training extensively for his K11 certification, intending to help others like him become fitter.
Paying it forward
But behind their gratitude is someone they may never meet. Romano says he wants the donor’s family to know what their decision has meant to him. “I want the donor family to know that their decision didn’t just save my life; it allowed me to live it again. I will never be able to fully repay what their loved one’s decision has given me.” His experience has also changed the way he views donation. “Yes, this experience has absolutely made me want to become an organ donor myself. If my organs can give another person the same hope that I received, I would want to give that gift,” he says. For Rocha, gratitude is difficult to put into words. “I don’t think there would be words to describe how grateful I am, but at the very least, all I can say is thank you for choosing to give four strangers, including me, a second chance at life.”
For those who receive an organ, the journey does not end with the transplant. It continues in the ordinary moments that once seemed impossible, in plans made without hospital schedules and in the gratitude carried forward each day. For donors and their families, the decision to give can mean that a part of their story lives on in another.
