Michael Tammaro
Patient Story: Michael Tammaro
The People & Places behind Michael’s Story
- CommSpec: Jonathan Roebuck | Pilot: Jonathan Kinkaid | First Officer: Jim Gerry
- Nurse: Cameron Bird | Paramedic: Brad Alleger
- Asset: L3 plane transport
- Location: Calais Community Hospital to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center
Mike Tammaro had been looking forward to the first weekend in September for months because he had tickets to see Aerosmith, one of his all-time favorite bands, at an outdoor venue in Bangor. But on September 3rd, he woke up feeling like someone was pressing a fist into his heart. “I said to my girlfriend, you gotta get me to the hospital. I think I’m in big trouble,” shared Mike.
The doctors at Calais Community Hospital stabilized him with medication but called LifeFlight for a transport so Mike could get a complete cardiac workup and care at Eastern Maine Medical Center.
As the LifeFlight crew was transporting Mike to meet the airplane at the airport in Princeton, they did another EKG and didn’t like what they saw as it showed changes from his initial workup in the ED. After a quick phone consult with the cardiologist on call at EMMC, they confirmed that Mike’s heart condition had taken a turn for the worse. They changed his course of treatment and took him straight into the Cardiac Cath Lab where the cardiac team put two stents in his ailing heart.
Instead of singing along to “Walk This Way,” Mike spent September 4th recuperating in his hospital bed, watching the light show from the Aerosmith concert reflecting off the low clouds. But he knows where he might have been instead. “If it wasn’t for those guys noticing a blip on my EKG, I might not be here today,” reflects Mike.
As the owner of a family fuel dealership in Calais, Mike’s days are still stressful, but he says he’s eating better, avoiding the office cookies, and driving to Bangor twice a week for cardiac rehab. He says he wants to keep his heart in good shape for the next Aerosmith concert.
