Korean Siblings Who Lost Dad, Grandma to COVID-19 Need Lung Transplant for Mom This Week

Two Korean American siblings from Los Angeles were left devastated after COVID-19 infected the entire family.

Hannah Haein Kim, 22, and her younger brother Joseph Kim, 17, are the only healthy remaining members after the virus claimed both their grandmother and father.

While Hannah and Joseph only lost their sense of smell, their mother, Eun-Ju, 60, was readmitted to the ICU and is in dire need of a double lung transplant.

The 22-year-old California State University student currently shoulders the burden of fending for herself and her brother’s wellbeing while also undergoing an eviction process from their new landlord who plans to demolish their building.

COVID-19 Timeline

The family of five was whittled down to three after what Hannah suspected as her grandmother, Sun Soon, 85, having contracted the virus from the nursing home she stayed in, and her father, Timothy, 68, from one of his acupuncture patients, she told CBSLA.

In a series of online journal entries for the Gen by Gen project with the Los Angeles Koreatown Youth and Community Center (KYCCLA), KQED compiled the timeline from their suspected contraction.

Hannah’s grandmother moved into their home on April 17, and 10 days later, on April 27, she needed to go to the hospital. Directly after, her father and mother were admitted just hours apart. On May 21, her father passed.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

My whole family is Covid-19 positive. We took this quarantine very seriously. Three weeks ago, my grandma and dad got tested positive – both from completely different places. After that, my brother, mom, and I got it too. Then after that, my grandma passed away. She was so strong. As of today, both of my parents are in the ICU at Good Samaritan Hospital. Dad is sedated, on a ventilator, and mom is also having breathing problems. If you didn’t know, this virus affects your whole body. A month ago, we were a normal family..happy that this quarantine could all give us a little break. Now, it’s just my brother and I at home and I’m dreading it so much. I’m breaking down every single day. I’m so sad. But my only hope is to cling to God every step of the way. Already, He has shown me so much love and grace. I’m missing my parents and my grandma so much. I’m on my knees, praying for my parents’ homecoming. Although I strive to live in the present-tense, I keep thinking of the past. Thinking of what I could’ve protected them from. The house is so eerie without them. My family is the very first CoronaVirus sob story that I know and probably is for you too. So this is my warning. If you’re going to go out, strap up your mouth and put on gloves. This virus is not a joke. People are hurting and dying. Please stop thinking it’s okay to go out just because the government says so. Do the rest of us a favor and please stay home. Hug your family a little tighter tonight. I seriously wish I could. #covid_19 #stayhome #family

A post shared by Hannah Banana (@hannahkim38) on May 16, 2020 at 9:32pm PDT

GoFundMe and Aid

KYCCLA created a GoFundMe for the Kim family to aid them in this difficult time.

Hannah is our Graphic Design intern. Last month she lost her Grandma and Dad to #COVID19. Her mom is in the ICU and needs a lung transplant. Please share their story and help us raise funds to help the Kim family! https://t.co/yDTYzytoHN

— KYCC (@KYCCLA) June 14, 2020

Katherine Kim, the Senior Communications Editor at KYCCLA and the GoFundMe creator, stated that the funds would be allocated as such:

“-50% housing, moving, medical and funeral costs; living expenses (food, utility bills)
-25% Joe’s college fund (he is a rising senior and an academic star who wants to study Mechanical Engineering)
-25% savings”

The fundraiser has surpassed its $350,000 goal as of this writing, however, Eun-Ju’s life is still in danger.

Lung Transplant Needed This Week

Eun-Ju was released on May 29 after surviving COVID-19. She seemed to be getting back to her usual condition when it suddenly deteriorated as her oxygen levels plummeted once again.

The virus ravaged Eun-Ju’s lungs into an irreparable state.

“They told us that her lungs are dead. They’ve become so scarred and hardened from the virus,” Hannah said. “The only option is for her to get a lung transplant. 

Now she continues to fight for her life in PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, strapped to a ventilator, and “needs a transplant THIS WEEK.”

“This weekend, Hannah, Joe and the extended family have requested [an] amplification,” through social media to approve of a lung match.

“She is already on the waitlist at #UCLAHealth and #KeckMedUSC and we’d like to urge them to consider her case,” Hannah wrote.

In an interview with NBCLA, she recounted the last time she spoke to her mother, just before she was put on the ventilator.

“I asked her, ‘Hey do you have a will to fight? Are you going to live with us? Do you have energy to fight this?’ She said yes.'”

“Our dad was the most special person to both my brother and I,” Hannah told CBSLA. “And I cannot even imagine living without my mother.”

The Kim family hopes others can help by spreading their story, and escalating the urgency for the lung transplant at #UCLA Health and #KeckMedUSC.

You can donate to their GoFundMe, mail a check to HANNAH HAE IN KIM at 3010 Wilshire Blvd. #372, Los Angeles, CA 90010-1103, or purchase some of Hannah’s artworks at @hancandrawtoo.

Feature Image via @hannahkim38 (left),  The Hannah and Joseph Kim Family Fund (right)

The post Korean Siblings Who Lost Dad, Grandma to COVID-19 Need Lung Transplant for Mom This Week appeared first on NextShark.

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