Contributed photo
FAMILY MAN — This undated photo shows Michah Bartlett of Orient with his sons Seth, left, and Ethan. Bartlett was severely injured in an automobile accident in November, 2012 and has been in Boston recuperating from burns to 60 percent of his body.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
ORIENT — It has been nearly four months since a fiery crash on Number 9 Road in Orient nearly took the life of resident Micah Bartlett.
And while he has made substantial progress in his recovery, Bartlett’s family says he still has a long road ahead of him.
Two separate fundraisers will be held Saturday, March 16 for Bartlett. The first is a spaghetti dinner and silent auction at the Houlton Elk’s Club from 5-7:30 p.m. The cost is by donation. Later that same night, the local group “Hillbilly Rock” will perform at Rollerama on the North Road from 8 p.m. to midnight. The cost for the dance is $10, with proceeds going to Bartlett.
Bartlett, 46, was severely injured during an automobile accident on the evening of Sunday, Nov.18, on the Number 9 Road in Orient. His truck went off the road on a sharp corner, rolled over, struck some trees and caught fire. He was found near the roadway and outside of his 2007 Chevrolet 1500 pickup, which was fully engulfed in flames by a passing motorist, Timothy McKissick, around 7:35 p.m.
Somehow, Bartlett managed to get out of his vehicle and crawl a short distance before collapsing.
“Micah was conscious and responsive when first responders arrived,” said Bartlett’s sister Heather Bartlett Douglass. “Because of the extent of his burns, they knew he would need to go to a burn unit in Massachusetts (there are at least two – Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital). They sedated him before taking him via Life Flight to Eastern Maine Medical Center for a brief assessment and then continued on to Massachusetts General Hospital.”
Douglass said the family did not learn the full extent of his injuries until early the following day. Bartlett had a separated shoulder, broken hip, several fractured ribs and burns to 60 percent of his body.
Bartlett has two sons — Ethan, 15, and Seth, 12 — and was living with his girlfriend Emily Putnam, and her daughter Catherine. The couple had just built a new house in Orient last summer. Putnam has been by Bartlett’s side since day one, splitting her week between Orient and Boston, Douglass said.
His young sons have also shown a high level of maturity in dealing with their father’s injuries.
“I’m so proud of the young men they are becoming and how they have handled this occurrence with maturity and strength beyond their years,” Douglass said. “I am sad they’ve had to watch their dad experience this, but I know it will shape them into stronger individuals in the end.”
His brother Mark Bartlett has resumed the snowplow contract Micah had with the town of Orient.
“Our entire family has come together and become stronger,” Douglass said.
“Micah’s fight and will to live is extraordinary,” she said. “I personally had no experience with burns. I think our family was initially more concerned about the trauma injuries sustained from the accident.”
The family met with Dr. Shawn Patrick Fagan, medical director of the burn unit, that same afternoon (Nov. 19) after he operated on Micah.
“We quickly realized the austere position Micah was in and received an appalling introduction to the world Dr. Fagan administers to daily,” Douglass said. “Micah had several factors to his benefit if we were looking at burns alone – he’s young, he’s in good physical shape, his face wasn’t burned, and his back wasn’t burned, which would come in to play when skin grafting procedures would begin.”
However, because Bartlett had sustained trauma in addition to the burns, the family learned major risk factors were infection and pneumonia – which face every burn patient, often multiple times.
“We learned that there was a delicate balance in giving him fluids which the burns would require, but that his lungs might not tolerate so well,” she said. “He was on a ventilator. He would be kept sedated. He was in a bubble to protect from outside bacteria and to keep him warm, since your temperature is regulated by your skin.”
An allograft procedure was scheduled for the next day to get him covered. An allograft is living tissue from a donor that acts as a temporary bandage until autografting can be completed. Because it is not skin from the person’s body, all allografts eventually fail.
Autografting is tissue transplanted from one site to another on the same person. Because it requires an additional surgery site, and adds pain, the patient has to be in relatively stable condition to complete it, Douglass explained.
“The next few weeks were a flurry of operations and procedures,” she said. “Because of the severity of burns on his lower extremities, he had to have both legs amputated. They performed a tracheotomy so he wouldn’t have a breathing tube in his mouth long-term. He remained in critical condition for 25 days. We were told it would be a roller coaster ride and that that, in and of itself, was completely normal. He could have a few good days and then have a really bad day. They would make the conditions right to help him combat whatever he was fighting at that particular minute, hour, or day.”
On Dec. 13, Dr. Fagan confirmed that Bartlett was “stable” for the first time. He remained on the ventilator, but he opened his eyes a few times, but remained predominately sedated.
“He was making small gains daily,” his sister said.
On Christmas Eve, Bartlett came off the ventilator for the first time since being admitted to the hospital. Although he could only breath on his own for a couple hours at a time, it was a huge step.
“He was getting stronger,” Douglass said. “He was tracking with his eyes. He was following simple commands. He was trying to communicate by moving his lips. He was coming back to us.”
Several skin graft operations had taken place by the beginning of January. However, infection was raging through his body and slowing his healing time. His back, which was being used as a donor site, was not healing properly, causing concerns.
“The doctors decided to sedate him once again so that he could lie at a 90-degree angle on his side,” Douglass said. “The position is tough on the respiratory system and on his healing ribs, hence the sedation. For nearly five weeks, Micah was uncommunicative once again.”
Grafting picked up again in February, as did his healing. The constant antibiotics he was under were working and he was close to being “closed,” which meant his burns were nearly fully covered, she said.
On Feb. 27, Dr. Fagan gave Bartlett the OK to move to the ICU step-down room and last week he relocated to the room.
“This means that he was able to come out of the bubble,” Douglass said. “We have been able to actually touch him for the first time in 15 weeks. Once Micah gets a little stronger and more alert, he’ll move on to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston for months of therapies and rehab before he’s able to return home.”
As the sole owner and operator of a small excavation company in Orient, it will possibly take years for Micah to return to his livelihood, his sister said.
“We could not be more thankful for the support of this community,” Douglass said. “The continued thoughts, prayers, cards, calls, texts and Facebook messages have been overwhelming in such a positive way.”
To make a donation to the Bartlett family, checks should be made out to “Heather Douglass / FBO Micah Bartlett” and mailed to Machias Savings Bank Attn: Cheryl, 148 North St., Houlton, Me 04730.
