A Spanish tourist died of a stroke while on vacation in India, after which her children fulfilled their mother’s wish and donated her organs for transplantation. This decision helped doctors save the lives of 5 people and amazed many residents.
Teresa Fernandez, a retired doctor from Spain, loved to travel and came to India for the fourth time. The day after arriving in Mumbai, the woman had a stroke and fell into a coma.
Local doctors contacted Teresa’s children, Arturo and Aitana, to report their mother’s critical condition. Being also a doctor by profession, Aytana got acquainted with the results of the tests, understood the seriousness of the situation, and flew to India with her brother.
“As soon as I saw my mother in bed in the intensive care unit, I realized that she would not wake up. We put on Louis Armstrong songs, classical music, the voices of friends and relatives … But nothing helped,” recalls Aytana.
After 6 days in a coma, Teresa Fernandez died. Her children told the doctors that their mother wanted to donate her organs. She has always expressed a desire to be a donor. Although this was a difficult decision for the children, they nevertheless fulfilled the will of the mother.
“Mom always said that she wanted to become an organ donor. True, the Indian doctors were very surprised when I said this. It seemed strange to them,” adds Aitana.
Teresa Fernandez’s lungs, liver, and kidneys were donated to three Indian patients, her heart to a Lebanese citizen, and her liver to a 54-year-old doctor from Mumbai, according to the National Organ Transplant Organization of India. In total, Teresa extended the life of 5 people.
Teresa was the first non-Asian donor and the second foreigner to donate organs in India. In 2019, a citizen of Nepal became the first international donor in the country.
The Indian press called Teresa a heroine since almost no one becomes an organ donor in India.