Twins Need Liver Transplants — But Dad Can Only Donate to One

Photo: Liver Transplants for Our Vietnamese Twin Girls/Facebook

It’s a terrible choice no parent should have to make: The father of 3-year-old twin girls in desperate need of liver transplants can only donate to one, so the family has launched a Facebook campaign to find a second donor before time runs out.

In November 2012, Michael and Johanne Wagner of Ontario, Canada adopted twins named Binh and Phuoc, then 18-months-old, from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Both girls were born with a genetic disorder called Alagille Syndrome, which prevents the liver from secreting bile. Due to malnourishment, the twins weighed only nine pounds each when the Wagners took them into their family, which included five biological and two adopted children from Vietnam.

The twins were immediately hospitalized and their health improved and today, they receive several rounds of medicinal injections per day and nightly feedings of formula ingested through a hole in their stomachs.

Photo: Liver Transplants for Our Vietnamese Twin Girls/Facebook

But this past September, the girls’ health worsened and doctors informed the Wagners that each of their daughters needed a liver transplant in order to survive. Luckily, Michael, 45, a Canadian forces major, is a match to donate part of his liver and is currently prepping for surgery at Toronto General Hospital in February. And, according to the Canadian news organization The Star, Johanne, 45, is considering testing to determine whether she’s a match for their second daughter but she won’t make any decisions until her husband recovers from his procedure, which takes 6 to 8 weeks.

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Of course, the big question is: Which sister will receive the liver? “We can’t even burden ourselves with that,” Johanne told The Star. “That is not for us to decide.”

The couple has launched a Facebook campaign called “Liver Transplants for Our Vietnamese Twin Girls” in the hopes of finding a second donor with an O or A blood type. Johanne says fielding the 50 or so emails inquiring into donation has become a “full-time job.”

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Yahoo Parenting couldn’t reach the Wagners for comment, as they announced on their Facebook page that they’re withholding interviews until they find a second donor. However, Michael told The Star, “I’m nervous … I’m nervous that my liver is not going to work with my daughter. All of these things are filling your head, but you have to stay focused and stay positive.”

According to Mikel Prieto, M.D., medical director at the Mayo Clinic, the odds of a successful transplant between two matches are anywhere from 80 to 90 percent. If the procedure goes well, “the girls could most likely lead very normal lives,” he tells Yahoo Parenting.

The basic function of the liver, a three-pound football-shaped organ, is to process food into energy and remove toxins from the body. The liver typically fails due to genetic disorders and autoimmune diseases. The wait list for patients in need of transplants can vary depending on location and the severity of illness. Currently, there are more than 16,000 people on the waiting list for a liver transplant, according to the American Liver Foundation.

Fingers crossed that the family will find donors so Binh and Phuoc can recover. “It is urgent … It’s pretty hard to find one liver, and we’re working for two,” Michael told The Star. “If this all happens before the summer, imagine: they won’t be itchy, their eyes won’t be yellow, they won’t be sick. They can concentrate on being kids.”

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