He had cancer. That tends to preclude you from being eligible from getting an new organ. It happens all the time, how did he get one?
It looks like I was wrong. Cancer seems to help in this case???
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-25-jobs-transplant_N.htm
...Liver transplants in such cases can cure the cancer, although patients remain at risk for another recurrence, Schwarz said. In addition, the powerful immune-suppressing medicine they must take to keep the body from rejecting the transplanted liver also can increase their risks for recurrence...