Krish underwent one of the most complex surgeries ever done at SickKids

Right from birth, Krish Bhardwaj struggled to digest food. He would feed and then throw up. On his second day alive, Krish was transferred to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) for further examination.

The diagnosis: a rare and severe form of Hirschsprung’s disease, an intestinal disorder that prevents bowel movements. SickKids staff initially treated his condition with surgery. However, because the disease affected almost his entire intestinal tract, Krish needed total parenteral nutrition (TPN), a feeding line that infuses a specialized form of food through a vein, bypassing the gastrointestinal system entirely.

By the time Krish turned eight, it became increasingly clear that intravenous nutrition was taking a toll on his body. Though TPN had kept him alive, it was damaging his liver, a known complication. Krish became critically ill. He stopped attending school, though teachers supported him at home or in the hospital when possible. Not long after, his kidneys began to fail, and Krish was put on the organ transplant list. Eventually, other organs were affected, and Krish needed an incredibly complex transplant surgery involving his liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines and stomach.

In early 2016, during what became a six-month stay at SickKids, Krish and his mom, Bala, received welcome news early one morning — he had matched an organ donor on the transplant waitlist. SickKids is a world-leading paediatric transplant centre, the largest in Canada dedicated to comprehensive transplant care. It is one of the few hospitals equipped to perform such a complex transplant.

For 19 excruciating hours, Bala and the family clung to periodic updates about Krish’s condition from SickKids staff — one successful transplant at a time. “For a long time, nobody came out,” recalls Bala. “They were running around, and you feel a lot of things inside, until the whole night passed. Then they said, ‘Everything is going well. It’s not finished, yet, but everything is going well.’”

Krish can’t remember his family’s quiet jubilation as they squeezed his hand following the major procedure, but he does recall the road to recovery. “I had to go through intense physiotherapy for months,” Krish says. “Because I was on the bed for so long, I actually lost my mobility, and I had to learn how to sit up, stand, walk and run all over again. It was great to get that back.”

More recently, Krish got his intravenous nutritional line removed and is enjoying food for the first time in years. He’s waiting on just one more relatively minor surgery, but the 15-year-old is back at school in Grade 10, enjoying after-school and weekend activities, including mixing music as a DJ at weddings. In January, he cut into a cake to celebrate seven years since his transplant, savouring the moment with his parents and two sisters as they have every year since his recovery.

Krish has also been encouraging family and friends to register as organ donors. For privacy reasons, he and his family do not know who donated organs to save his life. But they were able to share their gratitude through a card that was passed on. “We don’t want this to happen to any child, but it happened,” Bala recalls writing. “You saved our child’s life when you registered for [being an organ donor]. We want to thank you.”

Torstar, the Star’s parent company, is in a fundraising and educational partnership with The Hospital for Sick Children to help raise $1.5 billion for new facilities. This content was produced by SickKids as part of that partnership.