“I’m not doing enough…you could have involved me more…” That was what Mrs.Malathi Venkatesan told me at the MOHAN Foundation Trustees’ meeting in October 2015. A month later she was gone. For me, the Trustees’ meeting will never be the same again. In all the years that I had known Mrs. Malathi and seen her battle the havoc that chronic kidney disease wrought in her life, what always shone through was her indomitable spirit. She fought the disease with everything she had – starting with dialysis, a successful transplant that worked for 15 years and then going back on dialysis after the transplant failed. Through her work with TANKER Foundation and MOHAN Foundation, she helped innumerable patients with end-stage organ disease. Whether she was chairing ethics committee meetings at TANKER Foundation or following up on fundraising proposals for  MOHAN Foundation, nothing was more important than the mission. I remember the commitment, sincerity and passion that she brought to each of the tasks that she undertook, always aided by her husband Mr. S. V. Venkatesan.

Dr. Sunil Shroff, our Managing Trustee, shared his thoughts, “Malathi was our beloved trustee for the past two decades. It is an irreparable loss to the medical fraternity and the community of social workers. We, at MOHAN Foundation, remember her high degree of leadership qualities not only as our Trustee but also as a human being that has bestowed confidence among millions of patients suffering from kidney disease. She herself has bravely battled kidney disease for last two decades. She was a very good mentor, visionary and a bold person with a human touch.”

“She was a warrior,” recalls my colleague Pallavi Kumar, who worked with Mrs. Malathi at TANKER Foundation in the early years. Nothing could be more apt. We will miss the warrior… but the battle against organ failure will continue.

Dr. Sumana Navin