Mumbai Marathon: 35 liver recipients, donors to take part in Dream Run | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Mumbai Marathon: 35 liver recipients, donors to take part in Dream Run

Hindustan Times | BySadaguru Pandit, Mumbai
Jan 17, 2018 06:37 PM IST

Members of transplant team will run with sole the message — proud to be a transplant patient, healthy and active

Busting myths surrounding restrictions on physical activities after health complications, 35 liver transplant patients and donors, led by a nephrologist, are set to run the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.

Liver recipients, donors have been practising at Marine Drive for the apst three weeks(HT photo)
Liver recipients, donors have been practising at Marine Drive for the apst three weeks(HT photo)

Members of transplant team will run with sole aim of spreading the message — proud to be a transplant patient, healthy and active. 

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Dr Anurag Shrimal, abdominal organ transplantation and hepato-pancreato-biliary surgeon, said a liver transplant is the only option for patients with advanced liver disease but more than 90% of the population is unaware about organ donation. 

“A lot of myths surround this noble cause. But in reality, donors, apart from first the three months during which they aren’t supposed to lift more than 5kg, don’t have any restriction on physical activity. For patients, who lose muscle mass and strength due to the liver diseases, are put on high protein diet and we encourage them to walk 45 minutes daily to gain strength,” said Dr Shrimal, who practices at Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai Central. 

All the participants will take part in the Dream Run (6.6km) category and have been practising for the past three weeks at Marine Drive. While five of them underwent surgeries in the past two years, rest of the surgeries were done in 2017.

The youngest runner is 18-year-old Atra Shaikh, a recipient from Aurangabad. While the oldest is Yogesh Mehta, 54, from Mumbai. 

“We also have a recipient-donor couple, Sanjay and Kavita SIyani, who are specially coming from Rajkot to participate in the marathon. Granddaughter of former chief minister of Gujarat Kesubhai Patel, Kavita is extremely active and went shopping, merely a week after donating a part of her liver to Sanjay last year,” Shrimal said. 

The liver transplant patients will be joined by Shibani Gulati, who underwent kidney transplant in 2010 and has been participating in 21-km run at Mumbai Marathon since 2014.

Raising money

Having raised Rs 33.4 crores last year, 259 NGOs have collected Rs 24.5 crores as of January 12, 2018 for different causes, such as child sexual abuse, thalassemia, sanitation needs for women and disability, among others.

Running for a cause

Meera Mehta, 18, along with 62 other young leaders of Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care have raised Rs 3.5 crores for a 250-bed hospital for the underprivileged in Dharampur, Gujarat. The group intends to raise Rs 4 crore for their cause. Mehta, who has been raising funds for various causes since the last 7 years, has individually collected Rs 8 lakh, while the youngest member of the group, who is 4-year-old collected Rs 11 lakh on Monday.

Siddharth Dutt Roncon, 12, along with his two friends Arav and Rajeev has collected Rs 18.9 lakh for Nargis Dutt Foundation, which is the highest among young leaders currently. Explaining the reason why they took up the cause, Roncon said that the group had visited Tata memorial hospital, wherein the sufferings of people “moved them”.

Isha Gulati along with her sisters Malini and Saanya are raising funds for Thalassemia children, and have raised Rs 11.5 lakhs for Think Foundation as of now. The group said that their association with the cause comes out of a “personal experience”. “Having lost two family members to Thalassemia major, we have personally experienced the extensive medical care and financial resources that this illness requires,” Gulati said.

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