Mike Yonkers and Erin Rusch Reunited for the First Time Since His Heart Attack

Four years ago, a brief conversation with a good Samaritan at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah, likely played a key role in saving Mike Yonkers’ life.

Yonkers, who volunteered at the hospital after retiring from a career in health care sales and marketing, said he was feeling out of sorts on that fateful December day.

“It was December 29. I had been volunteering for about an hour. I had just taken a patient up to the sixth floor and was walking back down the corridor to my station at the front door,” Yonkers said. “That’s when I began to feel pretty strong pressure in my chest and a little difficulty breathing.”

He sat in a chair right outside the hospital’s Cardiac Rehab department.

“Ironically, I was just trying to catch my breath in front of Cardic Rehab. That’s when this person came along. All I remember is this woman was in blue,” Yonkers said. “She stopped and said, ‘you don’t look so good,’ and she took my pulse.”

A Good Samaritan

The woman, it turns out, was former ThedaStar flight nurse Erin Rusch. The blue attire was her flight suit. She’s now a team member in the ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah Emergency Department.

“She said, ‘you really need to go to the emergency department. Let me walk you down there,’” Yonkers recalls. “She ended up walking me down there which was several yards down the corridor.”

It was a good thing Yonkers didn’t refuse her help. It turns out he was having a heart attack.

On Valentine’s Day of 2023, Yonkers underwent triple bypass heart surgery. Today he is healthy and back to volunteering at the hospital.

“But I never knew this person’s name who found me in the hall and helped me. All I remember is the blue uniform. I asked around but nothing ever came of it.”

Until now. Yonkers and Rusch were reunited on January 30, 2026. It was emotional, their first meeting since December 2022.

Mike Yonkers survived a heart attack in 2022 while volunteering at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah. He credits Erin Rusch, a registered nurse with ThedaCare, for noticing he wasn’t looking well as he sat catching his breath. She escorted him to the Emergency Department where he was found to be having a heart attack. The duo recently had an emotional reunion four years after first crossing paths.

‘I Owe Her My Life’

“You can say I owe her my life,” Yonkers said, dabbing a few tears. “My instincts would have been to sit there for a while, hoping things would get better. Who knows what would have happened?”

For Rusch, it was an opportunity to have all her questions answered about the stranger she aided four years ago.

“There was construction at the hospital at the time and I ended up going down a hallway that was not normally my typical pathway,” she said. “As I was coming down the hallway, I saw Mike. His color didn’t look good, he was breathing heavier, he seemed anxious and flustered and as I got closer it caused me a little concern. I got three steps past him and my gut was telling me I have to stop and ask if he is OK.”

Yonkers told Rusch he was fine. He said he likely had a bit of indigestion. She didn’t agree.

“I said, I just don’t feel like you’re OK,” she recalled. “I offered to help him to the Emergency Department. Eventually, he agreed. We made it down to the Emergency Department and I watched him go to the registration desk before I left.”

That was the last Rusch saw of Yonkers.

Reunited After Four Years

Now, four years later, she’s happy to see her instincts were spot on and even happier that the stranger she aided four years ago had a positive medical outcome and is no longer a stranger.

“It’s interesting because we don’t always get follow up,” she said. “It’s been four years and in that time I’ve had the privilege of caring for hundreds of patients. To get a follow up up like this, years later is absolutely why we do what we do.”

Yonkers and Rusch encouraged others to take action when experiencing symptoms that may be indicative of a heart attack including chest pain or tightness, shortness of breath, fatigue, heartburn, and more.

“Take your symptoms seriously, even if it turns out to be a false alarm,” Yonkers said. “It’s worth taking the time and the effort to get checked out.”

About ThedaCare

For more than 115 years, ThedaCare® has been improving the health and well-being of the communities it serves in northeast and central Wisconsin. The organization delivers care to more than 650,000 residents in 17 counties, and employs approximately 7,000 providers and team members at 180 points of care, including 10 hospitals. As an organization committed to being a leader in Population Health, team members are dedicated to empowering people to live their unique, best lives. ThedaCare is a not-for-profit health system with a level II trauma center, comprehensive cancer treatment, stroke and cardiac programs, as well as primary care. ThedaCare also partners with communities to understand needs, find solutions together, and encourage health awareness and action. ThedaCare is part of Froedtert ThedaCare, Wisconsin’s most comprehensive health care system.