Maine to Manhattan: The Eliasberg Family’s LifeFlight Experience
For generations, the Eliasberg family has spent their summers in Maine. Year after year, they return to their camp on Georges Pond in the Downeast community of Franklin, a place that holds family history and memories of reunions and offers the kind of time together that’s hard to come by the rest of the year.
When Jake and Claire were growing up, their family moved around — New York, Florida, and then California. Maine remained the constant. Now adults, they’re both based in New York City. Claire is an orthopedic surgeon, and Jake works for Google. Even with demanding careers and full calendars, they still make it a priority to spend time on Georges Pond each summer.
“Maine feels like home for us,” Jake said. “We’ve moved around a lot, but Maine is the place we’ve known the longest.”
Their parents, John and Ginger, are officially Maine residents, although they reside in Connecticut during the winter. They cherish the warmer months in Franklin, where they have deep connections to their home and community. In recent years, they have spearheaded an environmental initiative to combat algae blooms on Georges Pond. For Ginger in particular, returning to this same lake each summer is a lifelong tradition — one shared by five generations of her family.
Franklin is home for the Eliasberg family. But in August 2024, that sense of normalcy and comfort was upended when Ginger suffered a bacterial infection, and subsequently a stroke.
Ginger has been active and an athlete all her life. She swam competitively in college, and more recently climbed Katahdin’s Knife Edge and enjoyed hikes in Acadia National Park. Her symptoms progressed over several days, John remembers. On a Thursday, she was playing pickleball and gardening. On Friday, she seemed tired. Saturday, she could barely open her eyes. Sunday, John took her to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth for evaluation, where she was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. From there, she was transferred to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, the nearest trauma and tertiary care center, where she suffered a stroke. By Monday morning, Jake and Claire had flown to Bangor to be there with their parents. “We were scared. This was sudden, unexpected trauma,” John shared.
Doctors quickly determined the root cause. Back in 2018, Ginger’s doctor had noticed a heart murmur during a routine checkup. Additional testing ultimately led to a heart valve replacement and aortic aneurysm repair by a surgeon in New York City. Ginger recovered and regained her active lifestyle.
Her stroke in 2024 was caused by a condition called bacterial endocarditis. Claire explained, “Basically, bacteria attach to and grow on the heart valve. Then, pieces of the bacteria can get dislodged and travel to other organs like the brain, causing a stroke.”
Ginger needed an urgent brain surgery and potentially another heart surgery as well. She lost the ability to speak, and her right side was paralyzed. Her situation was critical and no one was quite sure what would happen. “Claire’s a medical professional,” John said, “but this was all new and scary to her.”
It was new and scary to all of them. They felt that Ginger’s best chance was in New York, where she could be seen and treated by her doctors who were familiar with her medical history and could perform these rare and complex procedures.
Driving from Bangor to New York City was out of the question — too far, too risky, and too many unknowns with Ginger’s condition.
Claire had contacted Ginger’s New York surgeon, who told the family about LifeFlight of Maine and its critical-care crew who could transport her quickly and safely.
“I am well versed being on the other side of things,” Claire said. “As a scared family member, you feel so vulnerable. You’re trying to get your family member to the best care possible. You want to feel safe and taken care of.”
“From the moment the crew arrived, they were our ray of hope. We knew it was a long shot, but the family believed that if we could get to New York, she had a chance. The instant the LifeFlight crew arrived, we all felt an overwhelming sense of relief,” Claire remembers.
LifeFlight’s King Air B200, Lima Mike, took off from Bangor International Airport that Monday evening with Ginger on the stretcher and Claire by her side. Jake and John boarded separate, commercial flights to meet them in New York.
“I felt very safe on the flight,” Claire said of traveling with the LifeFlight team. “I felt very reassured. The paramedics talked to me the whole time, closely monitored her vitals, and adjusted her medications as needed. They walked me through the whole process and even shared stories from other flights they had been on. I think they said, ‘The weather is good, and your mom is doing great. This is an easy trip for us!’ Whereas I was very scared the whole time.”
Ginger remembers little of her LifeFlight experience. Most of what she knows she has learned secondhand from Claire and the rest of her family. Only one snapshot stands out in her memory. “I remember it was a beautiful sunset, which Claire pointed out to me,” shared Ginger.
The flight was smooth on a calm summer evening and less than two hours after taking off from Bangor, they landed in White Plains and drove Ginger the rest of the way into New York City in an ambulance. She underwent brain surgery the next day at New York Presbyterian Medical Center.
“She’s had an amazing recovery,” John said. “She does therapy seven days a week. She’s still getting better every day. And she’s about to do the Gaylord Gauntlet — a 5k, 24-obstacle race on June 13 (2026), with the help of her therapists and family. We’re just thankful for Ginger’s recovery, and we’re grateful to the LifeFlight team for getting her to the place where she could receive the specialized care she needed.”
