Touch and Puthy Hak are two grown men whose lives now rely on one another.
Puthy, 50, needs a kidney transplant. Younger brother Touch agreed to donate his. It will become part of a pool of donors, one of whom could then become a match for his brother.
"When you go on dialysis for one year you're going to need a kidney," said Puthy. "But they're not going to tell you say you need six months or the next six months. The sooner the better."
The clock is ticking. Immigration officials have given Touch Hak one year to qualify for the transplant program, two more years after the operation is done. His status in this country is conditional.
"Whatever I did it does not justify to me to get deported," Touch said.
The 38-year old Santa Ana man is a felon who got caught up in drug trafficking. He served a nine-year sentence. He was supposed to be deported to his native Cambodia one year ago.
"I have changed completely," he said.
Today he speaks to teenagers about the perils of drugs.
At the age of 8 there were other perils. Touch Hak fled Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime. Now his entire family has settled here.
"This is my home," he said. "I've called it home for 30 years."
The Haks brought six children with them when the fled in 1980s. Of those four became U.S. citizens. Touch did not.
Hak said his immigration status means he cannot stay here after the kidney transplant.
"Even if I don't need the kidney, to deport him I'm heartbroken," Puthy said.
Added Puthy: "I might not be an American citizen but this is the place I call home."
His brother and sister supported him while he was in prison, but in 2012 Puthy revealed his kidney failure to Touch.
"When I found out about his kidney failure, I broke down and cried," said Hak. "It's hard for a grown man to break down and cry in prison."
