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Girl who received hand transplant ties rakhi to late donor’s brother: ‘Rakhi tied with hand that made it all possible’
The teen recalled how her late donor’s family reacted when she went to their house to tie rakhi to her brother.
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Electrocution survivor Anamta, who received a hand transplant from a 9-year-old donor after an amputation, celebrated Raksha Bandhan with her donor's family. The teenager used her transplanted hand to tie a rakhi on the donor's brother, honouring the gift that gave her a second chance at life.
“At 13, I lost my right hand in an accident, due to electrocution. Years later, on Raksha Bandhan, that same hand was held by a grieving mother as she whispered, ‘Meri beti vapas aagayi’,’ Anamta told Humans of Bombay.
Sharing about the accident that changed her life, she shared, “In 2022, I was visiting my aunt in UP. Coming from Mumbai, when I saw an open terrace at her place, it felt rare. So, I ran upstairs to play. I remember standing near the railing, taking it all in. And suddenly, everything went black.”
She continued, “When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital and my parents were crying. The room was filled with a smell of burnt skin. When the doctors told me that I was electrocuted with an 11,000-volt live wire which had burnt my hand, I was shattered. To avoid the infection from spreading, doctors had no choice but to amputate.”
She was just 13, and after the accident she had to stay more than 50 days in hospital. Recalling the moment, the teen shared, “I lay in the hospital, crying over everything I had lost. One day, I looked around the burn ward. There were patients whose burns were far more severe and yet, they were still fighting.”
That is when she decided that she wouldn’t let the accident define her life. Anamta recalled, “I taught myself how to write with my left hand, I studied hard, and in my 10th grade, I scored 92%. When I refused to give up, life gave me something I never thought was possible.”
What happened next?
Anamta shared, “My doctors found a hand donor for me. She was a 9-year-old girl named Riya who’d unfortunately lost her life. Through their grief, their parents made the unimaginable decision to donate her hand, and gave me a second chance. I became the world’s youngest recipient to get an upper limb transplant.”
She continued, “That hand completed me in a way I never even imagined. Growing up, I’d always wished for a brother, and Riya had an older brother who had just lost his little sister. So on Raksha Bandhan, I went to their home to tie him a rakhi. As I tied rakhi around his wrist, Riya’s mom took my hand in hers and began to cry and whispered, ‘Hamari Riya ghar aa gayi’.”
At that moment, the teen realised how Riya didn’t just give her a “second chance at life but also a second family, and a brother to walk beside forever.”
In another post on her personal Instagram, Anamta shared another video of Raksha Bandhan.
She wrote, “Some bonds are beyond blood, beyond religion, beyond words. A second life. A second family. And a rakhi tied with the hand that made it all possible. This is what Raksha Bandhan means to me. Happy Raksha Bandhan!”
