For more than a year, Maryann Steinbock waited for a new liver.
Then, last Friday, the Long Island woman got the call. A compatible liver was available from Buffalo.
Problem was, New York City was smack in the middle of a blizzard and the surgery needed to be performed there within 12 hours for the liver to be viable.
But thanks to a team of Nassau County and city cops, the ailing grandmother was whisked through the slushy streets and made it to the operating room at Montefiore Hospital in The Bronx with just hours to spare.
Yesterday, in an emotional reunion, Steinbock, 59, of Atlantic Beach, reunited with the officers who gave her “a second chance at life.”
“The guys I was with were just wonderful,” the part-time wedding planner said. “Coming to the hospital was like being in a movie . . . It felt like an out-of-body experience.”
But Steinbock said she never had any doubts the police would get her there on time.
“I couldn’t have found a more well-trained team who were ready for combat,” she said.
Steinbock’s problems began about 18 months ago when she was treated for hepatitis C. Doctors found tumors on her liver and told her she needed a transplant.
After word of the available liver came at 4:30 a.m. Friday, officials at Montefiore called Nassau Police to help get Steinbock and her husband, Corey, there, even though the couple felt they could drive.
“The weather was miserable. They were under stress and we did not encourage them to drive,” said hospital spokesman Steven Osborne.
“Timing is very important for liver transplantation,” said her surgeon, Dr. Milan Kinkhabwala. “In her case, it came very close.”
Nassau cops Robert Prince and Jacek Trybala picked up Steinbock in a Chevy Tahoe. Her husband followed in another officer’s car.
Maryann, an avid Mets fan, said Prince “was very cool and calm and we were talking about the Mets. And before too long we were there at the hospital.”
Prince said driving on the snowy streets was “quite nerve-racking,” but “once we hit the city it was quite smooth sailing.”
At the city line, the motorcade met NYPD Highway officers Anthony Romano and Stephen Brooks, who helped clear the way to the hospital.
“This whole thing is a miracle and it’s beyond my wildest dreams,” said Steinbock.