“It Felt Like What I Was Supposed to Do”: San Mateo County Sheriff's Deputy Donates Kidney

Garrett Ramos says he is blessed, happy and excited to feel normal again after suffering five years from kidney failure.

"Always throwing up, not feeling good," Ramos says. "My senior year of high school I missed 60 days of school."

But those days are now gone thanks to Jerran Higgins, a San Mateo County Sheriff's Office deputy and longtime friend of Ramos' father.

Higgins was a match to allow Ramos a kidney transplant.

Ramos' father, Gary Ramos, wanted to give one of his kidneys to his son, but after months of testing doctors said it would not work.

"I remember getting the call and just breaking down at work," said Gary Ramos, who also serves as a San Mateo County Sheriff's Office deputy.

When Higgins heard the news he decided to step up.

"Jerran called me and said, 'What are you doing on March 10?' I said just going to school," Garrett Ramos said. "He said 'Why don't you skip school and we go get a kidney transplant.'"

And for Higgins, he said he was just helping a family in need.

"It's hard to feel like a hero because it felt like what I was supposed to do," Higgins said.

Contact Us