"The best 'thank you' I can give them is to live my life the best I can"

What would you say to the people who saved your life?

Blues artist Walter Trout returned to Omaha in July - this time for a concert. Ten years ago, he spent three months at Nebraska Medicine.

"Omaha has a place in my heart that is almost really difficult to express. This is the place we came. It was my last resort," he recalled.

A virus attacked his liver and he needed a transplant.

Walter and his wife, Marie, reunited with their team of transplant doctors and nurses.

"I think, for them, the best 'thank you' I can give them is to live my life the best I can and be productive and creative and vital and show them the results of their incredible work," Walter explained.

Continue reading for the expanded on-air transcript.

Their story began in 1990.

"There was 2,000 people and I was up there playing and there was this beautiful girl in the back," Walter Trout recalled. He was performing on-stage in Denmark.

"And she started moving toward the stage and the crowd parted like the Red Sea."

Marie Trout added, "Well, I felt like there was light coming into my eyes. It was the weirdest thing!"

"It was like a Marvel movie or something," Walter finished the story.

Right away, the two planned to start a family and grow old together. Ten years ago, that prospect was in real jeopardy.

"He was incredibly, skeletally thin. Had no muscle. Couldn't walk. Gradually lost the ability to talk and be cognizant. Was in a coma several times. Got very, very close to death by bleeding out," Marie explained.

A virus attacked Walter's liver. He desperately needed a transplant, but few centers nationwide were able to help him. Nebraska Medicine could.

"Omaha has a place in my heart that is almost really difficult to express. This is the place we came. It was my last resort," Walter said.

A last resort and their last hope to grow old together.

"I could not face life without this man... he gives my life color and meaning," Marie said with tears forming.

Emotional to recall, so imagine how it felt reuniting with their doctors and nurses 10 years later. Joy filled the Lower Storz Pavillion inside Clarkson Tower.

Doctor Alan Langnas was among the group. He is chief of transplant now just as he was back then.

"You know, that he could have an opportunity to come here and get sort of 'the Nebraska experience' - which I think is really quite unique and wonderful," Langnas reflected.

The Playing With Fire concert series is what brought the Trouts back from California. Walter has released seven albums since his transplant. The last debuted at number one on the blues charts.

As everyone caught up, Walter and Marie said 'thank you' countless times, but they recognize gratitude is more than words.

"I think, for them, the best 'thank you' I can give them is to live my life the best I can and be productive and creative and vital and show them the results of their incredible work," Walter shared.

The Trouts have become advocates for organ donation.

"When you don't need your organs anymore, this is what they could do. They can restore love, life, community... from otherwise, just going to waste. And that's the gift," Marie encouraged.

Click on your state to learn how to become a donor.

Nebraska

Iowa

The most recent numbers show more than 103,000 men, women and children are on the national waiting list.