Anujith was a teenager when he ran across a railway track in Kerala with his friends, waving their red bags like a flag. A train was approaching and the youngsters were frantically trying to warn against a crack in the track. The signalling worked. An accident was avoided and hundreds of lives saved, thanks to the foresightedness of Anujith, then an ITI student in Kottarakkara.
That was 10 years ago, in August 2010 and Anujith and his friends were celebrated for their bravery in the news. This July, Anujith is in the news again for another commendable act, but he is no longer around to see it. The 27-year-old passed away in an accident, but not before pledging his organs for others. His organs will be donated to eight people.
Anujith was undergoing treatment at the Kims Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram when the doctors said that he was brain dead. His wife Princy and sister Ajalya, who were aware of his wish for donating his organs, came forward to volunteer the information.
"That was what he last told me – that if he is not there in the world anymore, let someone else live through him. It was because it was his last wish that his friends and I are going ahead with this. He did good things for people when he was alive and now in his death too, he is helping others," said Princy, Anujith's bereaved wife, through tears.
Anujith's heart, kidneys, eyes, small intestine and hands will be donated so that they can be used by others in need.
His heart is going to a 55-year-old man from Tripunithura and has been transported in a helicopter provided by the state government. The organ donation was done through the Kerala Network for Organ Sharing (KNOS). This is the second such organ donation in two months.
Anujith had the accident on July 14, when he was travelling on a bike near Kottarakkara. He was very critical when he was first taken to the Kottarakkara Taluk Hospital, and from there, to Thiruvananthapuram for treatment. Even when the doctors tried their best to save his life, he was brain dead three days later.
Health Minister KK Shailaja paid her condolences to the family and said that she is grieving for Anujith with them.
Anujith, who used to work as a driver at a private organisation, took up the job of a salesman after the COVID-19 lockdown was declared in the state. Princy and Anujith have a three-year-old son.