No longer an anonymous donor student works with Kingston family to help others

[Kris Chung (left), pictured with Johanne Wagner (right), and her daughters, Binh and Phuoc. Twins for Hope Facebook]

Kris Chung is, in many ways, a regular student. He’s 21 and an English major who moved from Vancouver to Kingston, Ont., for school.

But he also spends almost every night in Johanne and Michael Wagner’s Kingston home, having bonded with the couple’s family after donating a part of his liver to their five-year-old daughter.

A third year student at the Royal Military College of Canada, Chung answered Yahoo Canada News via email during his busy school day.

When he was 19, Chung first learned about “the miracle twins” on his Facebook feed.

He read about Binh and Phuoc, twin babies who the Wagners had adopted from Vietnam in 2012. The girls were born with Alagille syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the liver, heart and other body parts, and requires a liver transplant.

“I thought that Johanne and Michael [were] quality parents,” Chung wrote. He admired their “courage” for adopting four of their nine children from Vietnam.

Michael, who Chung noticed was also in the military, was an ideal donor match but could only give his liver to one of his daughters, Phuoc. So the Wagners had turned to the public for help.

Like numerous others, Chung applied to be a donor.

“I was a little disappointed when I found out that I was runner-up since I spent a lot of time off school and work to be tested.”

But when the first donor fell through in April 2015, he was called on to go under the knife the next day.

“I never thought I would be selected so quickly,” he wrote about his 12-hour notice. “I guess that helped in a way by preventing me from second guessing.”

After the successful transplant to Binh, Chung was happy with his anonymous part in saving her life, but felt the urge to reach out to the Wagners. He was disappointed that the Toronto General Hospital’s liver transplant clinic policy doesn’t allow donors and recipients to meet.

“I understand that some relationships between donors and recipients can turn sour; however, donors should see the fruits of their efforts,” he said.

He kept up with their story and started communicating with Johanne over Facebook, but only confirmed his identity when he had gotten to know her better.

“Our relationship turned out to be better than expected,” he wrote.

Chung, who was born in Hong Kong, spends time with the whole family and co-founded Twins for Hope with Johanne. They are raising money to assist children and families in Vietnam, and plan to travel there in December to start their projects.

“After all this, I’ve been much more honest with myself and the things I want to do in life, and that is to help others in whatever way possible, whenever I can. I hope to continue with this as long as possible and for Binh and Phuoc to grow up and join us.”