Published Sep 15, 2026 | 10:36 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 15, 2026 | 10:36 AM
Alin Sherin Abraham, Shreya
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Shreya from Undancode in Neyyatinkara has decided to add the name Alin to her own after receiving a kidney from 10-month-old Alin Sherin Abraham, Kerala’s youngest organ donor. Shreya sees Alin as a younger sibling and said adopting her name is a way to remember and honour her. Alin, who died after a road accident in February, donated organs and tissues that helped five people, including three children.
Shreya was busy getting ready in her new frock when another phone call came. She answered it, listened for a few seconds and then handed the phone to her mother, Haritha. Another call came. Then another.
Since morning, their small home at Undancode in Neyyatinkara, Thiruvananthapuram, has been receiving a steady stream of visitors- neighbours and people from across the village, politicians and media persons, all coming to congratulate the 12-year-old.
Amid the calls and visitors, Shreya was trying to keep up with it all. She handled the attention with ease and maturity. But people were suddenly turning up at her home for a deeply personal reason.
From the next academic year, when she walks into Class 7 at St. John’s Higher Secondary School, Undancode, she will no longer be called just Shreya.
Her name will be Alin Shreya. It is a name she chose for herself.
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Shreya received a kidney from 10-month-old Alin Sherin Abraham, the youngest organ donor in Keralam. For months, she has known that a part of Alin lives within her.
She also keeps Alin’s photographs close to her.
”One day, she suddenly told us that she wanted to change her name from Shreya to Alin Shreya. The decision was completely hers,” Haritha told South First.
Haritha said Shreya sees Alin as a younger sibling and has always been conscious that one of Alin’s organs is now part of her body.
”We were happy to change her name. For us, it is her way of expressing gratitude and remembering Alin forever,” she said.
The wish became public at a ceremony organised by the Keralam State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (K-SOTTO) to honour organ donors. Shreya shared her desire there after already securing her parents’ consent.
The name adoption took place in the presence of Health Minister K Muraleedharan.
Alin’s parents, Arun Abraham and Sherin Ann John of Mallappally in Pathanamthitta, were also present. They embraced Shreya during the emotional ceremony.
But the change will not end with a ceremony.
Haritha said the family is completing the process to have Shreya’s new name reflected in her records. From the next academic year, her teachers will call her Alin Shreya.
For a girl entering Class 7, it may simply mean hearing a different name during attendance. For Shreya, it will be a way of carrying Alin’s memory wherever she goes.
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Alin Sherin Abraham was only 10 months old when she was fatally injured in a road accident on February 5.
Her family was travelling from Kottayam towards Thiruvalla along MC Road when their car was hit by another vehicle near Pallom Borma junction.
Alin suffered critical injuries, while her mother and grandparents were also seriously injured.
After treatment at hospitals in Changanassery and Thiruvalla, Alin was shifted to Amrita Hospital, Edappally on 7 February. She was declared brain dead on 13 February.
Her parents then agreed to donate her organs.
Her liver went to a six-month-old baby undergoing treatment at KIMS Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. The transplant made the baby the youngest patient in Keralam to receive a liver through deceased organ donation.
Her two kidneys were allocated to children being treated at the Paediatric Nephrology Ward of SAT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.
One of them went to Shreya, who was suffering from an autoimmune disease.
Her heart valve was donated to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, while her two corneas were retained at Amrita Hospital.
Together, Alin’s donated organs and tissues have helped five people. She lived for only 10 months.
