CHUCK O'DONNELL

@CHUCKODONNELL3

When he needed a kidney to save his life, Tommy Castillo says it was nothing short of a miracle that his wife/caretaker/soulmate Sammy turned out to be a match.

Having the means to pay for the transplant would take another miracle, but dozens of people, some complete strangers, stepped forward to help an artist who has battled diabetes with the spirit and determination of the superheroes he once drew.

Thanks to their generosity – including a large donation by a friend and business associate at Wyrd Games – more than $17,000 has been raised. Castillo is hoping to have the surgery by the end of the year.

“I broke down and cried,” said Castillo when he discovered the donations to his YouCaring crowdfunding site would cover the cost of the first year of post-op medication, plus help pay the bills in their home in Orlando, Florida.

“It was like being told you’re going to live. Everything so far has been about, ‘You’re going to die, you’re going to die.’ ”

Castillo, 46, was diagnosed with diabetes as a kid growing up in Keansburg. He discovered his artistic talents at 15, after an accident shattered his leg and his dreams of a career as a professional freestyle cyclist. As he recalls, they stationed him in the art room at Keansburg High School because it had extra wide doors to accommodate his wheelchair. They handed him a pencil, some paper and pushed him to give it a try.

Turns out he was a natural, and in a few years, he was getting offered so much work from comic book publishers that he dropped out of Brookdale Community College.

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Castillo worked on several Batman titles through the 1990s and early 2000s, including “Batman: Black and White” and “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight.” He also penciled many installments of Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales series, allowing him to showcase his horror and fantasy-tinged sensibilities though so many lushly detailed depictions of brooding beasts and saucy she-devils.

Diabetes, however, turned out to be more insidious than any of these monsters. Castillo was blind for about four years, and if not for 30 surgeries and daily dialysis, he might still be without his sight. His vision returned – yeah, that’s another miracle – as they rode back from the San Diego Comic-Con last year. He cast his gaze upon Sammy’s face and began to cry.

“The worst part of being blind for so long,” Castillo said, “was I was beginning to forget what my wife looked like.”

Mostly, though, it’s been an ordeal. He’s suffered a stroke and has nerve damage to his right (drawing) hand. They’ve exhausted more than $200,000 in savings and there’s a backlog of commission requests Tommy is trying to chip away at.

The Castillos say though it all, they’ve learned who their true friends are – even the ones in high places. Director Guillermo del Toro stops by and checks on Tommy every year in San Diego. Robin Lopez, a center for the Chicago Bulls and comic book cognoscente, donated to Tommy’s fund. John Schneider, who starred in the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard,” recently gave them a cameo in his indie horror send up, “Smothered.”

Tommy says the transplant would not only improve the quality of his life, but hopefully add decades to it. That’s good news considering he harbors dreams of starting a family and returning to his dining room-turned-art studio in earnest. Plus, he has developed the story lines for eight original graphic novels that will be financed by a friend.

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And maybe more than anything, he also wants to continue the master classes he’s been posting through the social media platform, Twitch.

“I realized the first time that I collapsed on the living room floor and my wife resuscitated me that I was leaving a legacy behind of some nice drawings, but that wasn’t enough,” Castillo said. “A legacy is leaving behind students. It’s leaving behind people with knowledge and sharing the knowledge I have.”

Having his world fade to black could have put Castillo in a dark place.

“But,” Sammy said, “with Tommy, all the best parts of him came out. He wants to help people, teach people more. The parts that usually I only saw he wants to show to everyone. So, it’s done a lot of good, too.”

For more information, log on to tommycastillo.net or go to youcaring.com and search “Tommy Castillo.”