Many people, after receiving organ transplants from brain-dead donors now lead healthy lives, and some try to help other needy people.

At the age of 23, Dat, born in 1990 in Dak Nong, felt seriously ill. Doctors said he suffered from heart failure.

By that time, he had just graduated from university and had been working for about a year. The young man, who had designed many plans for his life, suddenly felt mentally exhausted when he found out he was sick. With insomnia and poor appetite, his heart failure got more serious, from stage 1 to stage 3.

Dat was then at the death-or-life point and many times escaped death by an inch and doctors gave him up. However, he luckily overcame the challenges.

In 2017, he unexpectedly received a call from Cho Ray Hospital which said there was a donated heart from a brain-dead donor. And he became the first patient at the hospital to undergo heart transplant surgery.

“I did not feel any fear at that moment. I thought if the surgery succeeded, I would have a chance to continue living. If the surgery fails, I will dedicate myself to medicine,” Dat recalled.

The man not only received a healthy heart, but also kindness and love from benefactors, who funded his transplant surgery.

Dat is now 34 years old. He is leading a healthy life. Everything has returned though he has to have periodic medical examinations and adjust his lifestyle as requested by doctors. He has a stable job and a girlfriend. They are getting married next year.

Dat calls his revival a ‘miracle’. Grateful to the donor who gave him a heart, to the surgeons who carried out the transplant operation, and to benefactors who gave money to rescue him, Dat has started a business by selling specialties of his hometown Dak Nong. 

His business generates many jobs for locals, while part of the profits from the business is reserved for charity work. 

Dat wants to say thanks to all benefactors. “My family and I would like to send special thanks to the organ donor and her family. That act of kindness saved my life and the lives of three others. I would also like to send my sincere thanks to the Cho Ray Hospital team, the Cardiovascular Surgery Department; Dr Dat from the Cardiovascular Department, the Social Work Department and the benefactors."

The plans for girl with kidney transplant

On March 25, the Social Work Department at Cho Ray Hospital received a handwritten thank you letter from Pham Tran Le Tran, a 16-year-old girl who received a kidney from a brain-dead person. The transplant was performed on February 26, 2023, a month and five days after her 16th birthday.

That day marked a milestone in Le Tran's life. Since then, her health conditions have become stable. The girl is taller by four centimeters and weighs 11 kilograms more. 

The young girl now can fulfill her dream of going back to school after many years of interruption to receive medical treatment. She is currently a sixth grader at a charity school in District 7 in HCM City.

The young girl and her younger brother are running a small grocery in their rented room with VND10 million lent by a good-natured neighborer. The grocery brings profit of tens of thousand of dong, which helps treat the brother, who is also suffering from kidney failure.

“I have a plan for my life. I intend to learn bartending, a job that fits my current health conditions. If I have a job, I will be able to take care of myself, help my mother treat my younger brother and help other needy people,” she said.

Le Minh Hien from Cho Ray Hospital said in recent years, the hospital has received many people coming to inquire about the people who donated organs and saved their lives. 

However, the information about the donors must be kept confidential according to the law. Therefore, he advises people to go to a pagoda, where the hospital has asked monks to burn incense and pray for the deceased organ donors.

Khanh Hoa