When Johanne’s daughters desperately needed liver transplants, 600 people volunteered to be tested!
Both twins desperately needed liver transplants . . . but their adoptive dad could only save one life. Would someone step forward to give her tiny, sick sister a miracle, too?
Tears welled in Johanne Wagner’s eyes as she studied the photo of tiny twin sisters, Binh and Phuoc, in a Vietnamese orphanage. Sick with failing livers, the nine-month-old babies were jaundiced, severely malnourished and the size of newborns.
Or the size of beautiful, browneyed baby dolls, thought Johanne. Little dolls who would never get a chance to grow up without medical help. Johanne and her husband, Michael, had already adopted two Vietnamese boys, and now their contact at the orphanage had e-mailed this heart-tugging picture.
“Once we saw them, we just couldn’t forget about them,” Johanne says. “I like to say they found us.”
After months of paperwork, the couple flew from Kingston, Ontario, to Vietnam to meet their new daughters. Even though they were now 18 months old, the little girls weighed only nine pounds each.
“I promise you, everything will be fi ne,” Johanne whispered as she and Michael cuddled the twins. But deep in their hearts, they feared the worst.
Transplants for two
Back home, life became a whirlwind of doctor visits for the twins. Testing confi rmed that they suffered from Alagille syndrome, a genetic liver disease that causes bile to build up, severely hampering the organ’s ability to remove waste. Event ua l ly, both little girls would need liver transplants.
But with medicine and nutritional formula pumped directly into their digestive system through stomach tubes, the twins began to gain weight. They learned to walk and talk—and charm everyone around them with their giggles. Still, their livers continued to deteriorate, and by the time they were almost four, both girls urgently needed new livers. But the odds of fi nding two donors seemed impossible.
But the Wagners were determined to do the impossible. As Michael was tested to become a donor, they set up a Facebook page sharing their story . . . and their urgent plea for help.
When Michael proved to be a perfect match, they were faced with an agonizing choice. Which baby’s life would he save? But doctors made the hard decision for them; both girls were in dire shape, but Phuoc was worse. After receiving part of her father’s liver, she was back home in less than three weeks, suddenly the happy, healthy little girl she was always meant to be! Please let Binh get her chance to grow up, too, Johanne prayed. Please, one more perfect donor! Blessedly, people around the world were following the family’s story. More than 600 people volunteered to be tested to become a donor for Binh! Doctors found their ideal donor, a 19-year- old college student in Ontario. And two months after Phuoc’s successful surgery, she was wheeled into surgery and received a healthy liver from the young man, whose own liver would regenerate the piece he’d shared with little Binh.
“Thank you, whoever you are. You saved our little girl,” Johanne cried.
Today, the healthy six-year- olds are “just normal little girls,” Johanne smiles. “They love to jump on the trampoline and color and draw.”
And their transplant angel, Kris Chung, has become like a big brother.
“He was here the other night beading bracelets with the girls,” Johanne says with a laugh. “It was so sweet—and also very emotional. To see the twins being normal little girls . . . my heart overflows with joy and gratitude.”
There was never a night or a problem that could defeat hope.” sunrise or BERNARD WILLIAMS