Encounter Changes 2 Lives

A raspberry-red port wine stain grasped Nelson Castillo's slim left cheek, nose and brow; two bulbous growths disfigured his nose and chin.

The dilemma was whether to pretend not to see it or to ask questions that well-mannered people stifle. So Haymes stewed, and Castillo worked.

To Castillo, it was just another job in a posh home where he was invisible.

By the time Castillo had tended to the seven televisions Haymes and his roommates share in the hillside home, Haymes' heart was pounding in his ears.

"I knew I would regret it my entire life if I didn't say something," he said. "Finally I just sucked it up and said, 'Hey, what's the deal with your face?' "

It's congenital, Castillo explained.

"I don't want to offend you, but does it bother you?"

"No," he told Haymes politely.

But it did. Castillo, a 23-year-old native of Guatemala who lives in North Hollywood with his wife, brothers, mother and stepfather, has been tormented his entire life. Adults stare. Children do worse. He does not go to restaurants if he can help it, or to any place where children are likely to gather.

He has asked doctors if they could help, but either they were unable to do so or he lacked the means to pay.

In the year since that meeting, the cable man from Guatemala and the entrepreneur from the house with the smashing view of Los Angeles have fashioned a relationship that straddles what usually are distinct worlds in Los Angeles.

After months of searching, Haymes found a pair of Beverly Hills doctors who agreed to discount their fees. Haymes' church, Bel Air Presbyterian, has agreed to pay Castillo's medical bills. Doctors David Amron and Paul Nassif are to begin a series of surgeries on Castillo's face early next year.

Castillo could not have walked into the home of anyone more likely to help him. Haymes has a sort of Renaissance man-meets-Middle America quality. His interests become obsessions and deeply held values grow into charitable missions.

A native of Tulsa, Okla., he is lanky with spiky blond hair and boyishly rumpled clothes of indistinct color. He looks like a rocker and talks like a Boy Scout.