‘Conemaugh has kept me alive for 30 years; no place like it’

It’s an extremely long walk from the far-reaching parking lots of Beaver Stadium.

But nothing was going to stop die-hard Penn State football fan Bob Smith from seeing his beloved Penn State Lions play Kent State last September – not even serious heart issues that would necessitate a double-bypass just days later.

“He started having extreme chest pains and we had to stop walking numerous times before making it to our seats,” said Bob’s wife Patti Huber-Smith, a registered nurse at Conemaugh Memorial Hospital.

“I begged him to leave right then and go to the emergency room. But he’d have none of it. We got to our seats, saw the Lions win and made it home to Johnstown that night,” she said. “The next day, though, I took him directly to Conemaugh’s ER.”

After checking in, Bob was taken directly to the catheter lab. Doctors found that two stents (short metal tubes inserted to open an artery) were blocked leading to his left-anterior descending artery.

“I knew then and there it was serious business. That’s the type of blockage that causes what they call ‘widowmaker’ heart attacks,” said Bob, a 58-year-old machinist/inspector and U.S. Navy veteran.

He desperately needed open-heart surgery.

Conemaugh’s Dr. Savas Mavridis, a cardiothoracic surgeon, performed the successful operation. Bob’s wife knew the exact carrot to dangle to speed Bob’s rehabilitation: recovering so that he could return to attending Penn State football games as soon as possible.

“It was great incentive,” he said laughing. “She got me walking immediately. Between that and going to rehab three days a week (at Conemaugh’s East Hills Rehabilitation Center), I got to feeling good pretty quickly.”

Quickly enough, in fact, he was able to attend the Penn State versus Ohio State game less than a month after his double-bypass surgery.

“The fact is, Conemaugh has kept me alive for the past 30 years,” Bob said. “There’s no place like it. There’s no need to go to another city or state for care. They’re exceptional from the surgeons, specialists, my PCP (Primary Care Physician Dr. Michaeleen Wilson), technicians, assistants and nurses all the way to the people who bring in the meals. Excellent collaboration. They’re very professional, friendly, attentive and focused.

“We have all the great healthcare we need right here at Conemaugh. And boy, I’ve needed it.”

In addition to last year’s double-bypass, Bob also suffered a heart attack in 2019, leading to stress tests, three stents, several heart catheterizations and a pacemaker. And since he was 28 years old, Bob has had chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML); a type of cancer that affects blood and bone marrow, and is characterized by overproduction of abnormal white blood cells.

“My leukemia has been in remission for three decades, and they’ve done a great job with my heart issues. Conemaugh definitely keeps me going,” Bob said.

He believes genetics plays a big part in his heart-related issues. His father – Robert, Sr. – also had a double-bypass at Conemaugh when he was about 60 years old. “But he’s doing fine and going strong today at age 83,” Bob said.

“Conemaugh has been great to my family. They’ve kept me – and my dad -- alive and going for more than 30 years now. There’s no other place for me. Anywhere.”