Kidney patient Robert Barbour waited 12 years for news of a donor match. On March 12th, he finally got the call.

"She said we have a kidney for you, the first thing that went through my mind was are you for real?" said Barbour.

It was for real and nothing was going to stop him from getting to the hospital.

Barbour and his caretaker, Arnette German were traveling from Bradenton to Tampa General Hospital when they had to pull over for a flat tire.

German called 911.

"We’re not that far from Tampa General, but his tire became flat and I don’t know how to change the tire, he’s panicking," German told the dispatcher.

German said she could see Barbour was frustrated. She went on to tell the dispatcher that Barbour didn’t want to waste any time and was driving on the rim.

"When I looked up and seen how close we were to 6:00, I was like forget the tire, we’re gonna drive," said Barbour.

Meanwhile, Officers George Boyd and Jason DeRocco tried tracking them down. When the officers found the truck, they saw sparks flying down the road.

The officers realized the kidney patient didn’t have time to wait for a tire change and gave them a ride.

The officers turned on their lights and sirens and got Barbour to the hospital right at 6:00.

Video from the patrol car shows Barbour grinning ear to ear, excited to finally be on his way to the kidney transplant.

"With them taking the extra step to get me there on time, that made a big difference to me," said Barbour.

Thursday, Barbour thanked the officers.

"I’m thankful, you know dreams do come true," said Barbour.

The officers say they were just doing their job.

"I’ll always remember this call, it’s going to mean something to me for the rest of my career," said Officer Boyd. “It’s a call that makes you feel good at the end of the day and you don’t get very many calls like that.”

"After looking this awesome smile from the video I have say that there are some things in this life that you can’t put a value on that are essentially priceless and that was one of them," said Officer DeRocco.

Barbour is recovering well and even had the officers signed a stuffed kidney.