Pakistani man thanks Indian heart donor's mother in emotional letter

A Pakistani man, who was suffering from a severe heart condition, now has a fresh lease of life, thanks to an Indian donor whose heart beats inside him now.

Faisal Abdullah Malik from Karachi was suffering from viral myocarditis, a heart condition that requires a transplant.

In 2014, when the 37-year-old was diagnosed with the disease, several other countries that he approached for treatment refused to help. That's when a hospital in Chennai stepped in.

"In Pakistan, the diagnosis was like a death sentence. I feared that I would drop dead at any moment leaving behind a widow and two orphans. But my whole family stood behind me like a rock. Ultimately, India was the only country that accepted me as a heart transplant patient when I was refused by the rest of the world," Al Arabiya quoted him as saying.

"I am half Indian Masha Allah", Malik told Al Arabiya.

Malik travels to Chennai's Fortis Malar Hospital every year in February for an annual check-up which he describes as an "yearly pilgrimage".

The heart transplant was done on January 2, 2015.

The first challenge before clinic was to stabilize Malik's failing organs -- lung, liver and kidneys. Then began the wait for a heart to replace his. His turn came after 22 days when the family of Mohin Raj, a 26-year-old web designer left brain dead by a motorcycle crash in Coimbatore, decided to donate all his vital organs.

"I could feel the difference the moment I regained consciousness and opened my eyes after the replacement," said Malik.

Malik's gratitude for India -- its government, visa officers, doctors and nurses -- obviously knows no bounds. And justifiably so. But he is most indebted to Mohin Raj's mother who donated his organs setting aside her personal grief.

Calling the donor "mother" in an open letter, the heart recipient wrote: "You and I may never meet or even speak but we will remain forever connected at the divine-spiritual level. Your son and I will remain forever intertwined as the heart that grew in your womb now pumps blood through my body. We have merged and your son will forever live in me."