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C. Mariyaee (left) died on Thursday while Efarizan Shah Malek died yesterday. |
KUALA LUMPUR: C. Mariyaee and Efarizan Shah Malek. Remember their names well. They were lung disease patients on the transplant waiting list who passed away on Thursday and yesterday respectively, because of the lack of organ donors.
It is likely that they could have survived had the relatives of those who had just died, or were brain dead, allowed the lungs to be harvested for transplants.
The same could have been expected for the 10 others on the list who have died since 2003.
Efarizan, 30, had appealed publicly for a donor but no one came to help her.
The lungs of many who perished daily in accidents or from terminal illnesses could have saved her life.
But it was not to be for Efarizan, who died at the Putrajaya Hospital of a rare lung condition called lymphangioleiomyomatosis or LAM.
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Wan Fazril Salam, 32, contemplating life as a single parent to 11-month-old Danish Qayyim El-Fadzrul. |
The Institut Baitumal officer left behind a 11-month-old son, Danish Qayyim El-Fadzrul, who will never get to know his mother.
Right up to the end, she had harboured hopes of hospital authorities identifying a donor so that she could raise her infant son.
However, the muscle cells that invaded the tissues of her lungs, eventually blocked off the flow of oxygen to the rest of the body.
Efarizan’s case was almost similar to that of C. Mariyaee, 45, who succumbed last Thursday to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which ravaged her lungs.
The housewife from Selayang fervently prayed for a donor until her last days but to no avail.
There are 10 patients now on the lung transplant list. This number is expected to rise to 15 by the end of the year.
Do not let them wait needlessly and share the fate of Efarizan or Mariyaee.
Right now, they have a very good chance of surviving if lungs are available soon for transplant.
Institute of Respiratory Medicine (IPR) Kuala Lumpur consultant respiratory physician Dr Azhari Yunus said some on the list had waited for more than three years for a donor.
"Ten have died since 2003, and if no donors come, I don’t know what the fate of those on the waiting list will be. I appeal to Malaysians to please donate the organs of their next of kin who are brain dead.
"This good deed will surely save the lives of those on the waiting list.”
He said many with chronic lung diseases and lung problems were seeking help at the IPR because of awareness created by the media.
"Controlling and preventing lung disease needs everybody’s attention. Recognise the symptoms of lung disease and get immediate medical attention,” he said.
He advised smokers to quit smoking, which was the best protection for the lungs.
"Those who have a chronic cough, shortness of breath and other ailments of the lungs should seek immediate medical help.”
Dr Azhari said lung problems developed from the inhalation of second-hand cigarette smoke, air pollution and hazards at work.
Wish to donate organs cannot be fulfilled
PUTRAJAYA: Institut Baitulmal officer Efarizan Shah Malek, 30, only had one wish before she died: to have her organs, with the exception of her skin and cornea, to be donated to those in need of an organ transplant.
Her wish cannot be fulfilled.
Doctors at Putrajaya Hospital have told her husband, Wan Fazril Salam, 32, that they fear her illness might have affected the proper functioning of the rest of her body.
Wan Fazril, a project manager at a private company, who had taken no pay leave to care for his wife, said she had insisted on many occasions that her organs be donated.
"She told me that it was all right and not sinful for Muslims to give their organs away after their death. She was right and because of her, I have signed up to donate my organs.
"Though she had not signed up, she reminded me that if she died, her organs should be donated.”
Wan Fazril said he conveyed his wife’s wish to doctors when she was admitted to hospital yesterday.
"Today (yesterday), I reminded the doctors again minutes after she passed away but was told that since no x-ray had been done, her organs could not be donated. I am quite frustrated that her wish could not be fulfilled.”
Efarizan was admitted to the Respiratory Medical Institute (IPR) in Kuala Lumpur after her condition worsened three months ago.
Doctors at IPR tried their best to get a donor for her but to no avail.
"Everyday, we would pray together that a donor would come our way, but it was not meant to be.”
Efarizan was transferred to Putrajaya Hospital after her condition took a turn for the worst. She died at the intensive care unit about 12.30pm yesterday, and was buried in Pahang.
"Her wish was for me to get as many Malay friends to donate their organs for those in need. She did not want them to end up like her. I will try to do this for her,” said Fazril.
The New Straits Times had reported earlier that many Muslims were reluctant to become organ donors as they feared their bodies would be mutilated — 56.3 per cent of respondents in a survey of 500 Muslims in the Klang Valley carried out by the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) last year.
Shaikh Mohd Saifuddeen Shaikh Mohd Salleh, IKIM’s former Senior Fellow (Centre for Science and Technology) said the National Fatwa Council had stated in 1970 that organ donation was permissible in Islam.
However, the religious factor affected just 5.2 per cent of the respondents.
Instead, among the several misconceptions were that a donor’s family members would have to pay for the organs to be removed.
This article was originally published in NST Online.
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