On 4th February 2023, an interactive session, “Meet the warrior- Karishma Mistry” was conducted in collaboration with SBI Foundation and MOHAN FOUNDATION. 

This session was conducted as a part of an awareness program for transplant recipients. 

Jaya Jairam, Project Director of MOHAN FOUNDATION moderated this entire session. She welcomed the audience and introduced the key speaker and gave a brief explanation about TRIOMPH and later shared the importance of taking care of self post-transplant.

 The key speaker- Karishma Mistry, is a liver transplant recipient and is in her final year of medical school in the USA. She has been a young voice in the organ donation community starting at the age of 18 and feels blessed every day to have received a liver donor that gave her a second chance at life. She continues to share her story throughout the medical field and other organizations in hopes of making a positive impact on those still in need. 

Karishma shared her journey of how at the age of 9 years she started feeling sick and couldn’t do her regular daily activities and by the age of 10 years, she discovered she had spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, which is a complication when the liver is failing already. Immediately she was put on the waiting list in the USA. Unfortunately, there was no match in her immediate family so she was made to wait for 2 years. 

Karishma shared how she dropped from school and was on constant IV support for 2 years. She got her transplant done at the age of 12 years and she had a speedy recovery post that since she was a child. She started her normal life post her transplant- she started school and played with her friends.

At the age of 18 years, she became the young voice of the Organ Transplant Group “Life Source- Donate Life America”, which is similar to that of the MOHAN FOUNDATION in India. Since her father is also a transplant surgeon, she was inclined toward this group and she became a volunteer for this group. She actively participated in this group and did fundraising, promotional activities, and awareness programs with the idea to promote organ donation.

She had an inclination towards medicine line so she chose to become a doctor. She gained entrance into Medical college. There also she actively participated in Organ donation awareness programs. They also introduced a curriculum for organ donation in their courses to promote awareness among budding doctors. 

Further a lot of questions were asked like-

1. What precautions did you take post-transplant?- For the Liver, there are two stages. Induction phase and Maintenance phase. The induction phase is important as you have a foreign organ in your body. You have to be very cautious during that time. If you maintain your levels keeping in mind you take medicines on time so that there is no rejection.
2. Challenges or fears for a marriage post-transplant- In the USA, medical problems are not taboo. Partners need to be supportive and understanding. Though her in-laws were not sure about her due to fear of not being able to have children. But simple dialogue and discussion and education about the problem really helped. So we need to educate and make people aware of this.
3. How safe is the COVID vaccine in a transplant recipient- Earlier when COVID was new, things were different. But her doctors advised her to go for the vaccine as it is completely safe. Immune-compromised people need to take regular vaccinations. 
4. How you are engaged in spreading the word as a volunteer to spread the word- Annual events like Donate Life Day- Volunteers talk about organ donation and spread the word through events, and social media. Youth in medical colleges can talk more about colleges. Going to Colleges to talk about Driver’s Licence test and its form and talking about the organ donation option in the License form. 

Things she keeps in mind in her daily life are- Adequate sleep, Proper medication on time, and Fitness activity for at least 30 minutes a few days a week. She is generally walking most time of the day and running around the hospital all the time of the day. Also, eating healthy is the key. She mentioned she sometimes eats unhealthy but compensates for it with exercise.

The webinar had around 20 live participants on Zoom. The Facebook live session had around 5 audiences and the youtube live session had 3 audiences. Youtube has 490 views till today.

MOHAN Foundation thanks SBI Foundation and Karishma Mistry, and all the participants for supporting and attending the webinar.