67-Year-Old Farmer From Maharashtra Turns Social Worker To Raise Awareness On Organ-Donation
A 67 year old farmer hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra has turned into a social worker to raise awareness about organ donation.
A 67-year-old farmer hailing from Sangli in Maharashtra has turned into a social worker to raise awareness about organ donation. Pramod Laxman Mahajan has undertaken a 10,000 km bike expedition, a pan India ride to contribute his bit to this cause, reported Times of India. He started out his journey on October 21 from Pune and covered about 5,000 km on his bike for the cause of ¡®donate organs and save lives.¡¯
Photo: BCCL/ Pramod Laxman Mahajan
Mahajan¡¯s actions are a result of his own experience with a close friend who needed someone¡¯s help to save his life. An undeterred Mahajan decided to donate one of his kidneys to save his friend¡¯s life who suffered a kidney failure in 2000. Since nobody in the family was a match for his donation, the then 49 year old farmer decided to help his neighbour.
¡°When I offered to donate my kidney to him, his brother did not believe me.¡± he was quoted as saying to TOI. Mahajan has covered nine states until now on his white Yamaha that is adorned with various badges that he collected as he met other bike riders across various states.
Photo: Facebook/Rebirth
The remaining 18 states will be covered by him by the end of January. Apart from donating his own kidney, he has also helped 350 other people in donating kidneys. He has also given a helping hand to prominent hospitals in performing operations worth Rs 4.5 crore in Mumbai and Pune.
"A human life is not like a leaf on a tree where it can be replaced by a new one in no time. People need to understand that they can lead a normal life even by donating one kidney. Even family members weasel out of donating a kidney to their brother, mother or father. It is a sad state of affairs. But over the years of I have been able to motivate 19 people to donate kidneys to their family members," he told TOI.
The social worker covers 200 kms in a day and has covered 48 cities of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh to reach Madhya Pradesh. In Bhopal, Mahajan addressed the audience about organ donation and his journey will come to a full circle in Goa on January 25, 2019.
