Los Angeles County Deputy Donates Liver to Save Partner's Life

A 24-year veteran sheriff’s deputy at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility who thought he was facing death because he couldn’t find a donated liver will get one today -- from a fellow deputy.

The Los Angeles Daily News is reporting that back in January 2014, doctors told Deputy Jorge Castro they would place him on a waiting list, but they also warned him it was difficult to find a donor and no one in his own family was a match. If he didn’t find a liver for implantation, he could be dead within a year.

The treatments weren’t working, and he was getting worse, Castro said. He ended up confiding in Tiscareno, who told Castro he was willing to see if he might be a match. As a result, both deputies will undergo partial liver transplant surgery at County-USC Medical Center today.

“I’m not going to your funeral knowing that I could have helped,” Javier told Castro earlier this week at a news conference in Monterey Park, where the sheriff’s department maintains its headquarters.