Rajeev Naidu, 24, had emigrated from Bengaluru to New York for a graduate degree program.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
The organs of a 24-year-old Bengaluru youth who was declared brain dead in Brooklyn, New York will be donated to at least eight people in New York.
The family of Rajeev Naidu has given their consent to donate his eyes, heart, pancreas, kidneys, oesophagus, liver and bone marrow.
Naidu, who was doing masters in engineering from New York University was admitted to Brooklyn Hospital Centre on February 21 with a lung infection after a snowstorm in the city. He was declared brain-dead on March 6 when he was undergoing treatment in the hospital.
“Doctors found that his lungs were infected. Rajeev was vomiting profusely and the vomit had gone into his windpipe and his lungs, choking him. He did not breathe for a while and the oxygen supply to his brain was disrupted, causing brain death,” Naidu’s cousin told Deccan Chronicle.
Though his family has not been able to see him, they have set a remarkable example by giving consent to donate his organs.
“My parents and I haven’t seen Rajeev since he fell ill in February. We never expected this. My husband Jayanth has gone to the US to bring his body home. We are proud of whatever he did while he lived and equally proud of him for promoting a greater cause by donating his organs,” Naidu’s elder sister Kruthika Purushottam told The Times of India.
Completing BE in Computer Information Science from PESIT University in 2014, Naidu went to New York in 2015. He did his pre-university at the Christ Junior PU Residential College.
Naidu, who turned 24 on February 21, had called his mother on the same day, said his cousin.
“Rajeev had left for the United States on August 20, last year. He had just finished his first semester and planned to come to Bengaluru during the summer holidays,” the cousin added.
Naidu lovingly called Karthik by his family was a brilliant student and an ardent fan of New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum.
“Rajeev was an amazing person -kindhearted, helpful and always sported a smile. He would approach classmates, juniors and seniors to talk to them and help them. He was a great student and one of the top scorers in our university. Rajeev has made India proud by donating organs to those who needed them in the US,” Tejaswini Reddy, a classmate from PESIT, told The Times of India.