Dear Dr. Bartos, 

Whenever I talk about you, I tell people you’re my real-life superhero. Without your quick action, I almost certainly wouldn’t be here today. 

Thank you for answering your phone in the middle of the night when I desperately needed your expertise. Your decision to put me on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) — life support — and transfer me to M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center is the decision that gave me a chance to survive my cardiac arrest. 

While my life hung in the balance for 18 days after that, you and your colleagues got me through surgery, sepsis and many attempts at cardioversion before my heart was finally jolted back into a normal rhythm. 

Since then, it’s been a long road — relearning how to walk, talk, eat and even stand. These days have been some of the hardest of my life.

Now, over a year later, I am back at full strength. I walk 8 to 10 miles every day, grateful for every step.

I thank God for you and every single person who had a hand in saving my life — Dr. Rachel Dahms and her team at Regions Hospital, as well as Dr. K. Joshua Wong, Leah Jensen, nurses Grant and Jamison, the ECMO specialists and so many others at the University of Minnesota. 

Words cannot fully express the depth of my gratitude — for the doctors, the nurses, my family, my friends and everyone who stood by me, fought for me and believed in me. I am here because of you. And I will never forget it. 

— John Sitarz, in a letter to University of Minnesota Medical School cardiology expert Jason Bartos, MD, PhD