‘Binoy, Thank you’

It was a normal working day for 27-year-old Manu TR who hails from Kochi, Kerala. But happened on that fateful day completely changed his life forever.

“I was travelling on a local train back in 2013 when I saw a few goons troubling a young couple. I watched for some time and when no one came to help the couple I decided to intervene. I told them to stop harassing the two. They told me to keep out of their business. I told them all they had to do was stop what they were doing. Suddenly a few of them turned on me and we exchanged heated words. The next thing I knew a few had grabbed me and threw me out of the moving train. I regained consciousness two days later in a hospital,” Manu recalls, who is the first man in India to have had hand transplant surgery.

When Manu opened his eyes, he found that both his hands were bandaged. He looked around and saw his friend standing next to his bed. Manu asked why his hands were bandaged. His friend started crying and rushed out of the room. It never occurred to Manu that he has lost not just one hand but both. It was only when a doctor walked in to change the bandage did Manu realise that he had lost not just one hand but both.

“I was in the hospital. I didn’t know what to do. I only had one thought, I could not live without my hands. I have two younger brothers. One was working with a private company and the other had a passing parade from the police two days after I regained consciousness. I decided to defer the suicide attempt. I didn’t want to ruin his day. During that time I realised the love that my family had for me. My brothers didn’t leave my side even for a minute. The thoughts of committing suicide vanished with time. But I was in the hospital for a month and totally dependent on others for even the smallest of chores. I became a recluse. I didn’t want to meet anyone, even my friends. People don’t realise the importance of hands. If I was thirsty I had to ask someone to pick the glass to my lips. I didn’t want others to see my struggle. Going to the washroom was a horrifying experience. But I knew that I had to live like this for the rest of my life. I started drinking. My life for the next two years for traumatic,” Manu tells you who worked as an event manager before his accident.

A ray of hope came when his brother, who was watching a programme came across a clipping where Dr Iyer was talking about hand transplant. A trip was made to AIMS in January 2015. After a few tests, Manu was placed on the recipient list. As luck would have it, a call within a couple f weeks that there was a donor — 25-year-old Binoy — who had met with an accident was declared brain dead by the doctors and was a match for Manu.

“I knew that the surgery would not be easy. Dr Iyer had already told me what all will happen but I knew that I had to take this risk since there was no life without hands,” Manu says who was on medication to control his blood pressure and sugar levels. He also underwent almost a year’s physiotherapy to get his hands working in perfect order.

The surgery lasted 14-16 hours. When he regained consciousness he told the doctor that he could feel the hands. Of course, this was not possible but such was his desire for hands and his mental preparedness that within a week he had written his first words — ‘Binoy, Thank you’.

To begin with, Manu didn’t feel that the hands were his but when Binoy’s mother came to see him and gave her blessings, he was at peace and today, almost 18 months after the surgery, when he looks at his hands, he sees his hands.

“Yes, I am thankful to Binoy and his family for granting me a new life. I can do everything with the hands that I did with mine. Where is the difference? he asks. “These are my hands,” Manu says who now works at AIMS counselling other patients especially those who come in for a hand transplant.