If you had to save just one of your two children, which one would you choose? This is the terrible dilemma faced by Michael Wagner, a father of two adoptive twin girls awaiting liver transplants.
Three-year-old Vietnamese twins Binh and Phuoc suffer from a rare hereditary disease, Alagille syndrome, which affects many organs including the liver and heart. Their state of health having recently deteriorated, a liver transplant was considered for the two girls.
A compatible donor for the two children, the adoptive father therefore had 10 to 15% of his liver removed on Tuesday (the liver being an organ capable of regeneration). But when it came to choosing which of the two twins will receive the transplant, Michael Wagner could not decide. It is therefore the medical team who, in view of the data and the state of health of the girls, chose which one should receive the organ.
It was finally Phuoc who was chosen, and who received her father’s liver. According to doctors, the graft has been a success.
Unfortunately, his sister Binh is still waiting for a donor because the liver takes 8 to 12 weeks to regenerate and the operation being quite heavy, the father will not be able to donate his liver a second time.
The Wagner family has nine children in total, four of whom were adopted from Vietnam. The adoptive mother, she has not yet done the tests to find out if she was a potential donor, because she is waiting for her husband to recover from the operation to be able to take care of the children. The family has already created a Facebook page to find someone who can help them, and has launched a call for donations on the site. gofundme to be able to cover health costs.
The hospital indicates for its part that it has already received around 400 responses from anonymous donors, whose files are currently being examined.
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