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CNN Live At Daybreak

Olympic Snowboarder Looks For Gold After Liver Transplant

Aired February 14, 2002 - 05:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: As the world's best athletes strive for Olympic glory, we'd like to introduce you to an Olympian, who has already set an incredible record of his own. He has beaten death several times and is the only Olympian ever who has had an organ transplant.

Our Elizabeth Cohen has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what Chris Klug looks like today, but this is what he looked like a year- and-a-half ago on his way into surgery for a liver transplant. For nine years, Chris battled a rare disease called PSC, which was slowly ravaging his liver.

DR. GREGORY EVERSON, UNIV. OF COLORADO HOSPITAL: When he was the sickest, he was in bed, jaundiced, having fever and pain and looking very ill.

COHEN: He cried the day football great, Walter Peyton, died from the same disease and feared he would be next.

(on camera): There in an old saying, "What doesn't kill makes you stronger." Do you think that applies to you?

CHRIS KLUG, OLYMPIC ATHLETE: I believe in it. I really do. And that's kind of the story of my life, you know.

COHEN (voice-over): His life began 29 years ago as a preemie in the neonatal intensive care unit.

KATHY KLUG, CHRIS'S MOTHER: So he had to struggle right in the beginning.

COHEN: Then at age 10, he almost died from severe asthma.

WARREN KLUG, CHRIS'S FATHER: And that was a very scary thing. He was struggling for every breath.

COHEN: When he was 20, doctors diagnosed his liver disease. Then, a few years later, Chris crushed his knee, not sure if he would walk normally, much less snowboard again.

(on camera): And you have a strong faith in God. Did you ever say to God, hey, what's going on here? Why did you do this?

C. KLUG: Yes. I said, hey, give me hand down here. I'm struggling.

COHEN: Chris lost about 30 pounds and tried hard to stay in shape, while he waited for a new liver.

C. KLUG: It did pass through my mind many times that this might not work out. That I could die on the transplant waiting list, and this is how it's going to end.

W. KLUG: I found it hard to pray during that time, because on the one hand, we knew that the liver that Christopher needed would come at a very high price to another family.

K. KLUG: To be honest, every time I heard on the radio or television that there was somebody on life support, you say, that's an organ donor.

COHEN: Then, in July 2000, Christ finally got the call he had been waiting for. It was time for his transplant. He flew from his home in Aspen, Colorado to the hospital in Denver. His parents watched as he was wheeled into surgery.

K. KLUG: And you are standing there, and he looks right at me and he says, "Mom, am I ready for this?" And you go -- in 30 seconds you have to answer that question, you think of all of the things have gotten him ready. And you have to answer with confidence and assuredness, and you are the mom. And you go, of course you are ready for this. You whole life has gotten you ready for this.

COHEN: The surgery was a success. No rejection problems, no complications.

C. KLUG: And I remember waking up and going, I rule! It was so funny, but I had some pretty good drugs in me. I was saying some wacky things.

COHEN: Much to his doctors' amazement, Chris was snowboarding less then two months after surgery, and four months later, he won a snowboarding world cup. Now his mission: to win Olympic gold, to encourage organ donation and to meet the parents of the 13-year-old boy whose liver saved his life.

C. KLUG: I'd like to tell them in person thank you for saving my life, for giving me another chance to pursue my dreams.

COHEN: And those dreams begin today, when Chris starts his quest for a gold medal on the mountains of Utah.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Salt Lake City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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