Looking at her sitting with quiet dignity, facing the glare of harsh lights, you would never guess what her tiny heart has been through.

Indira, 13, a farmer’s daughter from Kodagu, was born with her heart on the right side of her body, while the heart’s pumping chambers and arteries had got inter-changed.

She got a ‘new life’ after Dr Devananda from Wockhardt Hospital and his team performed three surgeries her – all within a year which has worked miracles for the child.

Ever since she was a year old, Indira used to fall sick frequently. She made trips to many hospitals, where she was prescribed medicines for for ailment. When she grew older, she had difficulty in breathing and used to turn blue after even after a little work.

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Fortunately, Dr Devananda met her and explained to her family that surgery was the only chance for her survival.
Indira’s heart was unable to pump blood to the entire body as her ventricles had got interchanged. The right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs and the left ventricle to the rest of the body. As her left ventricle wasn’t strong enough to pump blood at required pressure, doctors had to train her heart by creating obstructions in the blood flow to increase blood pressure.

There have been only a handful of cases in the world where the ventricle has been trained to pump blood after the age of 12. As her parents could not afford the surgery, the Needy Heart Foundation stepped in along with Wockhardt Hospitals to facilitate the same. The final step, the ‘double switch’, was completed successfully. The girl was on artificial ventilation for two weeks as she had developed pneumonia after her surgery, on May 26 this year. Before the final surgery, doctors had given her a 25-50 per cent chance of survival. But Indira insisted she wanted the surgery and her parents relented.

Dr Prakash Vemgal, who monitored her after surgery till her discharge, spoke about how, after the tubes were removed from Indira’s mouth and she could speak, she told doctors that her birthday was on June 16.  A surprise party was arranged for her and she cut the cake.

After speaking to the press, she quietly left with her mother in an autorickshaw.