A California police officer recently showed the true meaning of brotherly love in all senses of the word by donating a kidney to his older sibling, who is also a fellow law enforcement officer.

Raymond Rose, a 38-year-old deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was diagnosed with lupus in high school, which eventually led to kidney failure later in life. When the family received the news that Raymond needed a transplant, 27-year-old South Gate Police Officer Ryan Rose did not hesitate to offer his kidney to his big brother.

“You have to push through. You have to get done what needs to be done to make him OK,” Ryan said.

Although Raymond was on the California donor wait list for a kidney, his younger brother said, “I always knew it was gonna be me.”

Ryan joined the South Gate Police Department after a stint in the military, and said he was drawn to the law enforcement profession by his passion for helping others.

“I just love helping people, and it gives me that avenue to help people,” he told Fox 11.

The Police Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) has set up a fund for donations to help the family pay for their medical costs. The association’s goal is to raise $60,000.

Raymond’s wife, Ashley, who has been caring for both brothers as they heal from the operation, works as a high school teacher. Ryan is a father of two and expecting a third child; his partner works as a police dispatcher.

The surgery was successful, although the brothers are both still in a lot of pain during recovery, and the process was hard on their parents as well.

“It was on my mind the both of them being in the operating room at the same time, going through this procedure,” mother Elaine Evans Rose said.

“The hero is Ryan. I wouldn’t be here without him,” Raymond said.