I visited my extended family members with my family (my wife Jae, my children Summer, Jennifer, and Douglas) in South Korea in the summer of 2011. We went to the family reunion at a resort. After dinner on the first day, I collapsed in the bathroom and was taken to the ER for treatment. There was a heavy internal bleeding in the stomach due to the decompensated liver disease. Luckily the bleeding was stopped but the doctor there recommended that I should be seen by a liver disease expert at a bigger hospital. Therefore, I was transferred to a university hospital. After examinations there, the liver specialist told me that I had 2 to 3 years to live without a new liver. It was devastating news to me and my family.
With heavy heart, I and my family returned home to Tucson, Arizona and I sought the guidance from a liver surgeon at University of Arizona Medical Center. The surgeon told me that I needed a multi-organ transplant due to the extended disease state. And also, he said that my case was too hard to handle at the medical center and recommended Cleveland Clinic.
During that time, my boss got an offer for a principal investigator position from Mayo Clinic and he offered me to go with him. However, I did not want to take his offer because he was not a good boss or friend. He lacked ethical standards and was not caring of his employees. It made me and my wife pray earnestly and seek guidance from the spirit. After many prayers and meditations, we were guided to take his offer and move to Rochester Minnesota.
After we settled down in Rochester, I met a liver surgeon at Mayo and explained what was going on with my liver. After a full examination, she told me that I did not need a multi-organ transplant and I needed a liver transplant. That was a great relief because the success rate for multi-organ transplant is low.
When my family went to our ward, we found that our bishop was a doctor and also our stake president was a doctor and a bunch of members were doctors too. I realized slowly why the Lord sent us to Rochester, Minnesota. Our Heavenly Father had a plan for me here. My devastating feeling started to change to a little more optimistic one. My grandfather, my father, and my two older brothers died of the same liver disease in their early to mid 40s. It was hard for me to be optimistic about my disease. I was ready to accept the same fate they were forced to take.
As foretold, my liver failed in August, 2014. I collapsed again in the bathroom and was taken to Mayo ER. This time it required a new liver. However, my medical condition was so bad that doctors were not sure if I could survive it. My kidneys failed completely and I was hooked up to a dialysis machine 24/7. Luckily the surgical team found a suitable liver for me at the last minute.
Bishop Fletcher did everything he could so that I might live again, and my wife Jae and members of church here, in Tucson, Arizona, in Trenton, Maine and in South Korea fast and prayed for me and my family. Their faith and prayers moved heaven. I was brought back from the brink. Some doctors at Mayo Clinic said with his serious conditions, only a hand in heaven could have saved my life. I owe my life to many faithful people.
I know God lives and I believe in the power of prayer and fasting. I also know that we need each other.