In both sickness and in health she promoted organ donation in India with the greatest zeal. She worked for this mission from her hometown, Pune. She was helped in her work by her husband Mr. Rajan and her father in law.

She organized campaigns on organ donation regularly, distributed posters in English and Marathi, organized road shows and addressed meetings. She was so popular that she was often called in to counsel families for organ donation in the event of brain death taking place at a local hospital in Pune.

At one stage she single handedly took on the Maharashtra organ sharing network called ZTCC, opposing their policy that organs that originated in Maharashtra would stay in the state even if they would get wasted. She threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the state assembly, until she received a high level assurance that the matter would be looked into.  Forming the first ever “Liver Patient Support group” in India. She appeared in front of the Human Rights Commission to state her views on organ donation.

She constantly worked for the cause of organ donation even when her health was indifferent. On many occasions she answered over a hundred phone calls a day on the subject of organ donation. Nayan was close to many in the medical fraternity. Some admired her and some were even scared of her guts and free spirit. She always had the support of MOHAN Foundation as she was a true member and volunteer of the Foundation. Looking at her zeal she was appointed coordinator for leading the organ donation movement in Maharashtra.

Nayan was suffering from Budd-Chiari Syndrome. This causes portal hypertension and liver failure due to blockage of the veins between the liver and rest of the body.  For this she had undergone a TIPS shunt in London about three years ago.  Following this shunt there were some highs and lows in her health. She was also on the cadaver waiting list for a cadaver liver transplant. However, miraculously, she improved and was taken off the waiting list about a year ago. But six months ago due to the anticoagulants she was taking, she developed brain hemorrhage and was in a deep state of coma and was on the verge of being declared brain dead. At that stage her husband told the doctors that if that condition was reached, he would like to donate her organs.  She however made a remarkable recovery

From this state of deep coma. But, after this setback, she never regained all her strength. She had become very frail and lost some of her eye movements, but she never stopped her work. Even a day before she passed away. She attended a meeting on organ donation.

If India had a few more crusaders like Nayan Dhamdhere in the field of organ donation, there would be no shortage of organs and the Cadaver organ donation programme would be a real success. We respectfully salute Nayan and her dedication to the cause of organ donation. If you wish to send your condolences to Nayan’s family, please mail us at [email protected] and it will be forwarded to them. May her soul rest in peace.