In response to the devastating loss of seven uncles to heart disease over a seven-year period and growing up surrounded by difficult conversations about cardiomyopathy, I became acutely aware of the severe shortage of heart transplants in India. Despite a staggering need for approximately 50,000 heart transplants, only a meager number of several hundred were performed each year. This concerning shortage extended beyond just heart transplants; India's organ donation rate was a mere 0.01%. Tragically, this dire situation led to the annual loss of half a million lives of individuals who desperately needed organ transplants.
Motivated by these disheartening statistics, I embarked on a mission to make a difference. I founded Abhigyata, a student-to-student awareness campaign on organ donation. In my role as the leader of Abhigyata, I had the opportunity to work with a diverse team of individuals, each bringing their unique backgrounds and skills to the table. Our mission to promote organ donation required collaboration from various stakeholders, and I found that harnessing the power of diverse thinking was essential to drive results.
For instance, our team consisted of high school students, interns, doctors, elderly individuals, organ recipients, and donors, each with their own set of experiences and expertise. High school students were enthusiastic and tech-savvy, making them effective at leveraging social media and organizing online campaigns. Volunteers brought fresh ideas and youthful energy to our initiatives. Doctors and transplant surgeons played a crucial role in providing medical expertise and addressing any doubts or misconceptions related to organ donation. They provided crucial medical insight, affirming the safety of organ transplant surgeries. NGOs and national organ donation organizations offered guidance on how individuals could register themselves as organ donors, removing barriers and uncertainties from the process. The elderly members of our team offered wisdom and a deep understanding of the emotional aspects of organ donation, having witnessed the impact it had on their lives. We invited them to chair our sessions and share their insights on current safety in organ transplant surgeries.
Organ recipients and donors from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds provided the most powerful voices in our campaign. Their personal stories and testimonials added a human touch, connecting with our audience on an emotional level, emphasizing that organ donation knows no boundaries. Recipients, too, joined in, recounting how receiving organs had profoundly transformed their lives. It was through these diverse voices that we were able to convey the importance of organ donation from various angles.