In 2009 Mr Greville was told it would develop into cancer and last July he was delivered a tough blow - he had a tumour.
After a session of chemotherapy one day he was given a bleak outlook: "Three or four months if I didn't get a liver soon."
He has five children, three stepchildren and 14 grandchildren - and farewelling his son who was leaving for Canada struck a nerve.
"It was really emotional at Napier airport because I knew I would never see him again."
He expected to be dead before his son returned.
"In two weeks' time he's coming home and I said, 'I will be there to get you'."
Mr Greville got the phone call while mowing the lawns. Luckily he'd had a bag packed for seven months. Within 2 hours he was in Auckland ready to go under anaesthetic.
Mr Greville had to wait for the organ, which was coming from Australia, to arrive before his seven-hour surgery began.
Speaking about how he felt immediately after the surgery, Mr Greville said he thought it was all over.
He could not talk and felt awful but his surgeon spoke to him like it was an everyday procedure.
His speedy recovery soon supported that. Just two days later, with the support of family and friends, he was up walking. Expecting to be in hospital for six weeks, he was out within just two.
Mr Greville spent six weeks in Auckland, four of those at Lions Liver Transplant House, making daily trips to the hospital.
He was warned that in the next year there could be some hiccups but he had already been in Auckland for only a fraction of the three months he had been told he would probably have to spend in the city.
"It's like putting a new engine in a car and then you've got to fine-tune it."
Anti-rejection medication was needed, as well as careful monitoring.
The process of getting a transplant was strenuous, with an extensive investigation into his background, age and family circumstances.
"They spend a lot of money on you and they don't want you having a transplant and then you buggering it up - but I passed with flying colours."
Mr Greville said the liver had come from a young Melbourne boy.
It was put to him frankly: there was a match. If he didn't want it, it would go to someone else.
"I didn't know how to handle it. Before the operation it freaked me out, having someone else's organ inside me. Someone had to die - but in Auckland they told me that's life."
He was told to wait six months before contacting the boy's family and was unsure what he would do.
Mr Greville said liver cancer generally showed no symptoms. He applauded his Hastings gastroenterologist who had looked after him for 15 years monitoring his health. The checks picked up the cancer.
Mr Greville urges others to donate their organs, too. Many doctors were frustrated with the low donor rate in New Zealand. He had spoken with people who weren't donors and who had changed their minds after seeing his progression.
"It's really emotional. It changes your perception of life.
"When you know in your head that you're going to die it sort of comes on to you: I'm not going to be here next month, then bang, yes I will."
His wife, Irene, said it was important people donated organs. It was hard for her to watch her husband becoming thinner and less healthy. "We've now got our man back."
The gift of life:
* Organ Donation New Zealand states that in 2005 there were 29 deceased organ donors. That number dipped to 25 the following year but rose to 46 nine years later then peaked at 53, with the most donors in 10 years last year.
* The number of people awaiting organs outweighs those available. Some wait months, others years.
* More than 550 New Zealanders are waiting for an organ transplant and about 450 of those are waiting for a kidney.
* The website states that people waiting for a heart, lungs or liver may die without a successful transplant while those waiting for a kidney transplant lead lives restricted by long-term dialysis treatment.
* Many more people are waiting for tissue transplants, including corneas, heart valves and skin.
* In 2014, New Zealand was the 11th-lowest international deceased organ donor out of 38 countries. Spain was the top donator and Croatia came in second ahead of Portugal.
Source: donor.co.nz
