Park Street: She is a singer, a popular radio jockey, mother to two teenagers and the daughter of a famous mother. But Anjali Uthup Kurien, a Calcutta girl who now calls Kochi her home, is treading a path and pursuing a mission far removed from her more obvious identities.
Anjali, 46, has made creating awareness about kidney transplant her life goal after living the anguish of a sister who saw her elder sibling, Sunny Chacko Uthup, being diagnosed with kidney failure in 2015.
A year before that, Anjali had visited an awareness camp on organ donation, where she ran into Philip G. Thomas, the head of transplant surgery at Lakeshore Hospital, Kochi. Thomas was also the author of a book called Transplant Story that deals with two strangers brought together by a liver transplant.
Anjali read the book months later and was so moved by the story that she spoke to Thomas about doing her bit for the cause of organ donation. That was on June 30, 2015. Little did she know that the very next day would bring an even more compelling reason for her to do so.
Anjali's mother, Usha Uthup, called her on July 1 to say that Sunny had been diagnosed with IgA nephropathy and 90 per cent of both his kidneys had stopped working. It is an auto-immune disease that occurs when an antibody, immunoglobulin A (IgA), lodges itself in the kidneys and hampers their ability to filter waste.
A series of further tests confirmed that Sunny needed dialysis. They were next told that he needed a transplant.
"Reading a book and getting inspired is one thing. But when you are living the story, it's a different ballgame," Anjali recounted to Metro at a Park Street café where she had been rehearsing with her mother and troupe before a show on Friday evening.
Four years on, Sunny has had a transplant and the story of how Anjali marshalled the family battle has found its way into The Kidney Warriors by Vasundhara Raghavan, a compilation of inspiring real-life sagas in first person.
Anjali now shuttles between Calcutta, Kochi and other cities to meet donors, recipients and caregivers, lifting their morale, visiting dialysis centres and raising funds. She delivers talks on the pre and post-operative aspects of kidney transplant. She provides financial help to patients and advocates cheaper dialysis equipment and medicines.
"Kidney transplantation is still a mystery for many. My brother had a support system. His office extended all possible help. But in most cases, patients and their relatives don't have such a cushion. Insurance, or the lack of it, alone can rob people of sleep," Anjali said.
In the initial days of her brother's treatment, Anjali had been all at sea. Paperwork before and after a live donor was found proved to be another mountain to climb. It was then that her husband, John Kurian, took care of their children - Ayesha is now 18 and Riyad 14 - while she spent endless hours sitting outside dialysis rooms and chatting with fellow caregivers.
One of the happiest moments in her life has been watching Sunny play golf again at the RCGC.
Mother Uthup describes Anjali as the "rock in our family".
