A sick prisoner whom Andrew Chan cradled in his arms minutes after learning he had lost his clemency plea has offered to die in the place of the man once described as the godfather of the Bali Nine.

In a heartfelt letter to the Indonesian president, 32-year-old inmate Rico Richardo said Chan had helped him when he almost died inside Bali's Kerobokan prison on January 23.

Sentenced to death: Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Credit:Anta Kesuma

"It was Andrew Chan who insisted I got taken back to hospital," Richardo wrote. He said he did not have enough money to pay the hospital bill but Chan asked his lawyer to assist.

Richardo said when it came to Chan the president was "seeing with just one eye". "Even though Andrew Chan is on death row … he never thinks of himself. This could be taken into consideration of your conscience, honorable Mr President," Richardo wrote.