Profiling Our Patients

As a health care organization, there is nothing more gratifying than positively influencing the lives of individuals and families, often under the most trying of circumstances.

At Fletcher Allen, we are truly humbled to have touched the lives of these special people. We are grateful to possess the resources necessary to provide advanced-level care, and to have highly skilled professionals whose talent and dedication made these stories a reality.

John Evarts

Vascular Surgery

John Evarts regularly travels throughout New England. While on one of his trips, John noticed a distinct burning sensation in his ankle and heaviness in his legs.

Joan Landon

Vascular Surgery

Joan Landon was walking from the beach to her Florida condo in the spring of 2010, when a vein in her leg ruptured. She was leter diagnosed her with venous insufficiency with varicose veins.

Mike Tarricone

Cardiac Surgery

Mike was born with a heart problem known as a bicuspid aortic valve. One of his heart’s four valves – which open and close to control blood flow through the heart – wasn’t shaped properly.

Emily Thole Stark

Spine Surgery

Emily Thole Stark has had problems with her back. She remembers dealing with back pain in sixth grade and again, while playing volleyball in high school.

Debbie Short

Brain tumor treatment

Debbie Short’s friends and family started noticing changes in her behavior. A usually outgoing, bubbly person, she seemed depressed and withdrawn.

Roland Brousseau

Carotid artery disease treatment

Roland Brousseau lives life to the fullest. But in the spring of 2010, it became difficult to do the things he enjoyed. "I was sluggish, it just wasn’t me," Roland said.

Stan Haggett

Heart surgery

In May of 2010, just before his 90th birthday, Stan Haggett started feeling short of breath and soon learned he had 90 percent blockages in his arteries and would need surgery.

Marla Blankenship

Brain aneurysm treatment

Marla Blankenship had had migraines before. But she had never had anything like this – a sudden, massive head pain that felt about 100 times worse than a migraine.

Courtney Billings

Cystic Fibrosis patient & Children's Miracle Network Champion

You’d never guess by Courtney's energy and ever-present smile that her life has been defined by doctor’s appointments, hospital visits and medications.

Mark Moye

Heart Valve & Aortic Aneurysm Surgery

Mark Moye was at Fletcher Allen, being treated for an unrelated condition, when his doctors noticed an alarming decrease in his heart function.

Rachel Alexander

Provided emergency treatment

"If it were my daughter, I’d get here as soon as possible." It was a heartfelt recommendation, from one parent to another.

Tim Boyea

Stroke survivor

It was a warning sign: the disorienting shock of jumbled vision as 44-year-old Tim Boyea prepared to tee off in a golf tournament.

Tim Gervais

Heart attack survivor

Tim tried to ignore the cold, clammy weak feeling he first noticed when he got out of the shower. He tried to ignore the weakness in his arms, even as he drove his 42 mile commute.

Treated for heart issues

Early one morning, in the house he built with his own hands by a sparkling lake in northern New York, 77-year-old David Fayette awoke to some disturbing symptoms.

Gary Ackerman

Stroke survivor

Every weekday morning, Gary Ackerman walks to West Rutland School. It was early on one of those school mornings that Gary realized that he couldn’t move or talk.

Opal Sutton

Treated for a severe bacterial infection

Merry chaos - that's how an observer might describe Doug and Heidi Sutton's rambunctious Ferrisburgh household, where their four kids tumble around the property in happy unison.

Maureen Harriman

Breast cancer survivor

Maureen and George Harriman say they’ve probably made the two-and-a-half hour trip from Tupper Lake, N.Y. to Burlington over 20 times...and it all started with one tiny spot on a mammogram.

Erik FitzPatrick

Heart attack survivor

Ninety minutes. 5,400 seconds. Avid runner, Erik Fitzpatrick, would not have imagined that 90 minutes would mean the difference between life and death.

Wayne Rosberg

Cancer survivor

Wayne decided to have a colonoscopy at age 48 — two years before the recommended age for this procedure. That decision may be the reason Wayne is alive today.

Jane Yagoda

Treated for heart rhythm disorder

Physical activity is the centerpiece of 67-year-old Jane Yagoda’s busy life, as co-owner of a kayak touring company.

Jamila Headley

Treated for a neurological disorder

The sea sparkled as Jamila Headley slowly stood up on her surfboard. This was supposed to have been a pause in Jamila's remarkable young life - a Barbados vacation before graduating.

Amanda Reif

Treated for multiple gun shot wounds

June 18 was New York State Trooper Amanda Reif’s 29th birthday. It was also the day she almost lost her life.

Bruce Anderson

Treated for shoulder injury

Bruce Anderson was repairing a forklift when one of the 300-pound wheels started to roll into a nearby car. He reached out to stop it and felt a pop in his shoulder.

Phan Chung

Benefited from Our Health Access Program

The night was ink black as Phan Chung stood outside her Burlington apartment gasping for breath. She wondered if she was going to die right here.

Herb Noyes

Rotator cuff injury

As a former competitive athlete, Herb Noyes, 55, is no stranger to injury.

Phil Gullion

Rheumatoid arthritis & knee replacement

Phil Gullion has always enjoyed outdoor activities – scuba diving, sailing, skiing, going for nature walks.

David Brandt

Hip replacement

David Brandt, 52, of Upper Jay, New York, remembers when each step he took was a chore.

Claudia Tudhope

Knee replacement

Claudia Tudhope, 62, of Grand Isle, likes going for long walks, working in her garden and playing tennis. But persistent knee pain recently forced her to give up some of those things.

Jesse Beck

Sports injury, knee

It was only a split second – a fraction of a moment in time – but that’s all it took to make something go terribly wrong for Jesse Beck, 52 of Burlington.