In 2014, 27-year-old Heather Kreuger was diagnosed with stage 4 liver disease. Unless she could find an organ donor within the next couple months, she wouldn’t survive.
"I was told I had less than a 50 percent chance of living more than two months," Krueger recalled. "It was traumatic."
She told her family and friends, in hopes that it would increase her chances of finding a prospective, living donor – but she told herself to not get her hopes up.
But then Chris Dempsey contacted her. Dempsey worked as a code enforcement officer alongside one of Krueger’s cousins, who mentioned Krueger’s health situation. When Dempsey heard the news, he knew he had to at least get tested to see if he was a match.
“I spent four years in the Marine Corps and learned there never to run away from anything. So I just said to myself, ’Hey, if I can help, I’m going to help,’” he explained.
When doctors confirmed that Dempsey was, indeed, a match, he reached out to Krueger to offer her 55% of his liver.
They met for the first time over lunch (he paid), and discussed the finer details of the procedure. Everything was quickly scheduled, and the two underwent their respective surgeries.
Combined, the procedures took over eight hours, and in the duo’s two-month recovery time, they began to fall in love.
When Krueger began to notice her feelings for Dempsey, she questioned it at first. “We do have this special bond, but is this just because I’m sick that I’m feeling this way? You had to kind of separate that, but after the surgery, I realized it went beyond that,” she realized.
Finally, in December 2015, Dempsey proposed. The couple got married earlier this month in 2016.
In her wedding vows, Krueger once again thanked her husband for saving her life: “You are the most incredible man I have ever known. You believe in me and you make me feel amazing every single day. Because of you, I laugh, smile and I dare to dream again."
