On the morning of January 28, 2014, a rare snow and ice storm locked up Birmingham, Alabama. Neurosurgeon Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw had a patient dying across town, and no road to reach him.

The Call Came Mid-Surgery

Hrynkiw was at Brookwood Medical Center, wrapping up an early morning operation, when the call came from Trinity Medical Center. A man with a traumatic brain injury needed emergency surgery.

Hrynkiw told reporters the man faced roughly a 90 percent chance of death without an operation. Trinity's only brain surgeon, according to The Associated Press, was the one already stuck across town.

It did not take long for him to realize that driving was not an option.

One Step at a Time

"I just walked down the hill and started walking towards Trinity," Hrynkiw said. He was in his scrubs, with a coat on top, and it was about 20 degrees outside with snow still piling up.

Along the way he stopped for a few minutes of warmth inside a parked ambulance. He also helped stranded strangers push their cars away from a ditch.

Then, in his own words, "Lucky for me a passerby, a sales rep actually, give me a lift the rest of the way."

Reports at the time called it a six-mile walk, a figure based on a map estimate of the route between the two hospitals. Because he rode for part of it, the exact distance he covered on foot is not documented.

Cars jammed on a snow- and ice-covered street near downtown Birmingham, Alabama, on January 28, 2014 — Roads around Birmingham were jammed during the January 2014 storm. Photo: Shannon McGee, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Operating Within Minutes

Nearly two hours passed before he reached Trinity Medical Center. Within minutes, Hrynkiw was operating.

The patient lived. Hrynkiw said the man might have some deficits with speech and cognition, but he was expected to live, and a Trinity charge nurse told NBC News the man was doing well.

"What's the Big Deal?"

Asked about the trip afterward, Hrynkiw shrugged it off. He told WBRC the long walk was not a big deal, because he walks regularly and enjoys it.

The storm stranded thousands of drivers across Alabama and Georgia that week. For one patient, the road that mattered ran between two hospitals.

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