An incredible journey through the Nebraska blizzard to get a man a new heart in Omaha. First responders fought terrible conditions overnight Tuesday to get Dan Griffin of Elba to the Nebraska Medical Center.
A heart attack 13 years ago, eventually leads doctors to put a blood pumping device in Griffin's heart in July 2014. He’d been on the heart transplant list for more than a year.
Tuesday at midnight, the Griffins get a call that a new heart for him would be coming to Omaha. The problem is Elba and the Grand Island area had at least 15 inches of snow dumped on them with 50mph winds.
Elba firefighters and the NDOR were able to get a snow plow and caravan of vehicles to plow through the high drifts and get him to Grand Island.
"When you cleared the path it was just as wide as the vehicle so you didn't have anywhere to go except follow the trail, and some of the drifts were actually over the top of the vehicle and then when a snow plow hit it you couldn't see anything. It was just a complete whiteout," said Elba Firefighter Tony Morrow.
They then traveled on the closed interstate and reached the hospital at 7:40am Wednesday.
"That's just what we do, that's just what we do. We help our community the best we can.” Elba Fire Chief Randy Faaborg explained. “He's in a fight but we got some encouraging news this morning. He's making progress."
Griffin was in surgery for 8 hours. He is still listed in serious condition at the Nebraska Medical Center.
