Lucknow, Oct 14 A 24-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district lost around 20 kg in four months to become eligible to donate a portion of his liver to his critically ill father, who was suffering from advanced liver cirrhosis.
The son, who worked at a real estate company in Delhi, took a break from work and stayed at his family home in Banda to focus entirely on improving his health and meeting the medical requirements for liver donation.
Initially, doctors said they found that he had severe fatty liver disease, with fat accumulation exceeding Grade 3, making him unsuitable for donation despite being the only potential compatible donor in the family.
With no other suitable donor available, the son, Vineet Singh (name changed), on Wednesday told reporters here that he followed a specialised diet, underwent regular medical evaluations and remained under medical supervision for four months.
“I lost approximately 20 kg without using weight-loss injections or medication, and subsequent assessments found that my liver condition had improved sufficiently for the donation,” he said.
Doctors said the the transplant was subsequently performed successfully, giving his father a chance at recovery. The patient was discharged from the hospital about a week after the surgery recently.
“The effort made by the son to save his father’s life is truly commendable. He was unaware that his liver had accumulated such a significant amount of fat. The condition was discovered during the medical evaluation when he came forward to donate a portion of his liver to his father,” Dr Abhishek Yadav, head of liver transplant at ApolloMedics Super Speciality Hospital in Lucknow, said.
Yadav, who along with Dr Utkarsh Srivastava and their team performed the critical operation, said the son’s liver condition was monitored through repeated MRI scans, with four to five scans conducted during the weight-loss period to assess changes in fat accumulation.
He said the medical team had initially advised the family to explore other potential donors, but no other compatible donor could be found.
The father, Ankush Singh (name changed), is also recovering well, the hospital said.
Doctors said the case also brought the son’s previously undetected liver condition to medical attention.
They said that without timely detection and intervention, severe fatty liver disease could have progressed to more serious complications, including liver inflammation, fibrosis and cirrhosis.
Fatty liver often remains asymptomatic in its early stages, making it possible for people to remain unaware of the condition until it is detected during medical investigations.
(PTI News)
