According to the new book “Becoming Steve Jobs,” Tim Cook, upon hearing that Jobs had cancer, confirmed a blood match and then offered his boss a sliver of his own liver.
Jobs politely declined. From Fast Company:
One afternoon, Cook left the house feeling so upset that he had his own blood tested. He found out that he, like Steve, had a rare blood type, and guessed that it might be the same. He started doing research, and learned that it is possible to transfer a portion of a living person’s liver to someone in need of a transplant. About 6,000 living-donor transplants are performed every year in the United States, and the rate of success for both donor and recipient is high. The liver is a regenerative organ. The portion transplanted into the recipient will grow to a functional size, and the portion of the liver that the donor gives up will also grow back.
After going through a series of tests to determine whether a partial transplant was even feasible, he stopped by Jobs’s home in Palo Alto to make the offer; Jobs refused. “He cut me off at the legs, almost before the words were out of my mouth,” said Cook. “‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ll never let you do that. I’ll never do that.'”
“Becoming Steve Jobs” by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli (Amazon)