It took five snowplows, a sympathetic Wyoming trooper and no small amount of determination, but Chuck Forbes got his liver.
On Wednesday, Forbes, 59, described the events that led to a race against time and through a blizzard to get into surgery at the University of Colorado Hospital for a lifesaving transplant early Sunday.
Forbes, a Vietnam veteran who contracted hepatitis C, probably in a battlefield blood transfusion, had felt pain in his abdomen for more than 30 years as he suffered the progressive affects of hepatitis C and alcoholism.
Finally, the pains got so bad, Forbes moved from New Hampshire with his wife, Ruth, to Meeteetse, Wyo., to be closer to a relative.
A year ago, the pain grew more severe, and Forbes learned that he had tumors in his liver. He needed a transplant or he would die, said Dr. Michael Wachs, a transplant surgeon at the hospital in Aurora.
Saturday morning about 7:30, the hospital’s transplant coordinator called the Forbes family to say a liver was available.
The family first took their horses to a neighbor and their dogs to a kennel.
Just before noon, they climbed into their sport utility vehicle. By the time they reached Wheatland, about 80 miles from the Colorado border, snow was falling and winds were blowing so hard they could barely see the highway. Interstate 25 was closed.
Ruth Forbes frantically called 911 on her cellphone. The dispatcher agreed to call a Wyoming state trooper, Chuck Bloom. But Bloom warned that it was against the law to drive around the gates toward Colorado.
“I said maybe you need to go back to the hospital in Wheatland,” Bloom recalled.
Ruth Forbes was adamant. Her husband’s life was at stake.
So Bloom called the Wyoming Department of Transportation. Rick Schultz, 46, who said the snow was so thick at times that he couldn’t see the plow in front of him, was dispatched in his plow to find the Forbes family.
“I knew it was going to be dangerous, but a gentleman’s life was on the line,” Schultz said.
Ruth Forbes said she saw the headlights of a giant snowplow appear. And they followed in their SUV.
In Chugwater, 26 miles later, Schultz’s snowplow was replaced by five as they drove to the Wyoming border at a top speed of 25 mph, with Forbes staying close behind and following the plow lights. It took about five hours to go 80 miles.
“It was mesmerizing,” Ruth Forbes said. “All that white for so much time.”
At the Wyoming border, the snowplow drivers stopped to celebrate, Ruth Forbes said. The Forbeses were back on their own.
But the storm was not nearly as fierce in Colorado. Soon, the highway cleared, and the Forbes family arrived at the hospital nearly 15 hours after they got the call.
The operation early Sunday was a success, Wachs said.
Chuck Forbes said he was grateful to the nurses and doctors at the hospital.
But the former snowplow operator said he is particularly indebted to the Wyoming plow workers. He still doesn’t know their names.
“I owe each one of them a hug, a handshake and a big steak.”
Schultz said he was glad to help.
“It was very gratifying.”
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
