Matt Tamburri has survived brushes with death due to a congenital heart defect
Stephen Finn
The Sun
Cinnaminson resident Matt Tamburri has faced more health complications than many people experience in a lifetime, and he has lived to share his story. In fact, talking about it is exactly what has been driving Tamburri in recent years.
Throughout his life Tamburri has survived cardiac arrest, stroke, a congenital heart defect and a coma. He is an inspirational speaker and the youngest executive board member of the American Heart and Stroke Association.
Tamburri has spoken at a number of the association’s Heart Walks, which serve as both a fundraiser for heart disease and stroke and an opportunity for survivors to gather together, most recently at the Southern NJ Fall Walk on Saturday, Nov. 10.
What Tamburri looks forward to most about these walks is celebrating life and meeting with other survivors.
“It’s nice to meet and see people who have gone through similar circumstances,” Tamburri said.
A congenital heart defect is a condition someone is born with where the heart, or blood vessels near the heart, don’t develop normally before birth. In Tamburri’s case he suffers from pulmonary valve stenosis, meaning his pulmonary valve is smaller than it should be. This makes his heart have to work much harder to pump blood to his lungs and arteries.
“Growing up I continually had to get my heart checked and go to doctors. In gym class I always finished the mile last and would get really tired,” Tamburri said.
In spite of these difficulties, he worked hard to ensure his condition didn’t slow him down and played varsity sports through much of his high school career. His senior year he planned on playing soccer for Villanova University until tragedy struck.
“I was a goalie my senior year when I had either a seizure or cardiac arrest on the field — I’m not 100 percent sure. At that point I couldn’t really walk straight for about four or five months and it kind of ended my sports career,” Tamburri said.
Although his sports career was cut short, he remained active and played for fun while attending college in South Carolina. Within his first year, he was once again stopped in his tracks. While playing a game of football, Tamburri suffered a full cardiac arrest and found himself fighting for his life.
Luckily for him, a cadet from The Citadel, a military College in South Carolina, was present and leaped into action performing CPR until ambulances could arrive. Tamburri’s heart stopped for 15 minutes.
After being rushed to the nearest hospital, doctors placed Tamburri in a medically induced coma and he remained under for two weeks.
“The chances of me surviving that at the time were around 6 percent and the chances of me actually being OK after the coma was probably less than 1 percent, so I got pretty lucky,” Tamburri said.
At the age of 19, Tamburri was fitted with a pacemaker, defibrillator and an ASD closure device. His fight wasn’t over, however, and since then he has experienced clotting in his subclavian vein, a pulmonary embolism and multiple TIA stroke episodes due to clotting issues with his pacemaker. The stroke episodes left him with head trauma that impaired his ability to walk straight for a stretch of about six months.
Today, Tamburri is back on his feet and continuing his mission to share his story of survival and help other patients and their families who may be experiencing similar hardships. His struggles throughout the years have brought what is really important to him into perspective.
“I’ve stared death in the face a lot of different times. It’s taught me to love my family more, love my friends more, keep everyone close and just appreciate every second you have with them,” said Tamburri.
For more information on the American Heart Association and how to get involved in the annual Heart Walks, visit their website at heart.org.
To learn more about Tamburri, you can visit his Instagram page matt_tamburri where he has shared pictures and videos highlighting the various stages of his journey.
