DENVER -- A Wyoming man who got through last weekend's blizzard in time for a liver transplant at a Denver hospital was full of thanks Wednesday.

Chuck Forbes, 59, of rural Meeteetse, south of Cody, got the call Saturday morning from the University of Colorado Hospital to come in for transplant surgery. His wife said the call came "out of the blue" and they weren't expecting it. Forbes had been ill for more than a year and was on a transplant list.

They took off in nice weather but then a spring snowstorm grew and engulfed the state.

On their way to Denver, the couple was forced to stop at a road-closed barrier at Wheatland, north of Cheyenne, Wyo.

When he saw the "road closed" sign, Forbes was devastated.

"I just didn't know what to do ... I asked God, 'Why?' and I think he answered me with a whole bunch of good people," Forbes said.

Bloom's wife called 911 and explained to the operator that they were desperately trying to get to Denver for a transplant operation and that her husband might die without it.

The 911 operator sent Wyoming State Trooper Trooper Chuck Bloom to talk to them.

"The state trooper came along, and I was a little snappy because it was my life," Forbes said.

The trooper soon learned that the Forbes were telling the truth.

"He came back to our car and said, 'If you wait right here, the area boss for WYDOT will be right here,"' Ruth Forbes said. "In a matter of 10 minutes, we had a convoy of plow trucks."

"When you meet up with one truck, then five plows blow that road out for you," Chuck Forbes said.

The couple followed nearly on the bumper of a plow truck from Wheatland south to Chugwater in whiteout conditions. Other trucks joined in to plow a wider path.

In Cheyenne, one plow led them through the city. South of the city, an eighth snowplow driver got them to the state border.

The couple made it to University Hospital in Aurora and Chuck Forbes underwent his liver transplant at 7 a.m. Sunday.

He was alert enough to talk about the trip with a reporter Wednesday morning.

"That trooper is my hero. He's pretty important in my eyes today," Chuck Forbes said.

His message to the snowplow drivers who got him through the blizzard: "Keep up the good work. That was an example of how important they can be."

Forbes said he planned to do something for the trooper and the snowplow drivers, but he didn't know what just yet.

"I'm just so grateful to everyone," he said. His experience reminded him of "how much I love America and the people in it."