A liver transplant between a woman and her ex-husband was successfully carried out on Oct 31.

Su Dan had remarried her ex, who had cirrhosis of the liver and cancer, in order to do the transplant.

Though she had been searching for a matching liver in various big hospitals in Beijing and Tianjin, she was told to wait for at least three to six months. To save her dying ex-husband, Tian Xinbing, she decided to donate her own liver after learning they were a match.

Living organ donation is only allowed between blood relatives or spouses.

"A day together as husband and wife means endless devotion the rest of your life, and I should spare no effort to offer help when he is in difficulty," Su said.

The 12-hour operation was successful. The tumors have been removed and no spread of the disease was found, said Shi Bingyi, head of the Organ Transplantation Research Institute in No 309 hospital of the PLA.