ecmo-patient-stories

View stories from the loved ones of patients and patients themselves who were treated with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS). These emotional stories drive home the fear, pain and ultimate relief that many patients experience through life-saving extracorporeal support.

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Brianna's Incredible Journey

Brianna comes full circle

At age 16, with credit to my academic successes, I graduated high school, enrolling in the Athletic Training program at a local private college. School not turning out as I had hoped, I opted to take a semester off. I began working two jobs, routinely clocking 40+ hours per week. I started to tire. Given the nature of my work – with many long hours on my feet – I brushed my fatigue off as nothing in particular. It never occurred to me I could be sick.
My doctor found otherwise: I had mononucleosis. Prescribed a 7-day steroid treatment, I was on the road to recovery. On the evening of my final dose, I began experiencing increasingly worse symptoms. First, an aching feeling under my left ribcage and a throat so sore I couldn’t speak. A couple days later, November 11, 2014, my symptoms rapidly worsened and my mom rushed me to the emergency room at a local hospital.

Mononucleosis had caused my spleen to enlarge and eventually contributing to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), my inflamed lungs making it impossible to breathe on my own. A team transferred me to Buffalo Women and Children’s Hospital (now Oishei Children’s Hospital). Their team placed me on ECMO. It was my only option to survive.
As the doctors were giving my parents the news of a successful procedure into my lungs, I went into cardiac arrest. My family watched helplessly as the team performed CPR.

After 18 minutes of standing by, they decided they could no longer watch. They had to walk away, accepting the fact that they may lose their daughter.

Surrounded by family and friends, all praying for a miracle. In truth, it was likely a matter of minutes before the physicians would call my time of death. Their prayers were answered. My vitals were coming back. Cardiac arrest had substantially weakened my heart, and a switch from veno-venous to veno-arterial ECMO was the only option for survival. Yet again, I went into cardiac arrest. And again, the team was able to stabilize me. And so, my ECMO journey began.

"They had to walk away, accepting the fact that they may lose their daughter"

Briana Ptak

My time on ECMO was, and will always be, a blur to me. It was as if my brain was shut off for a few months. Coming off ECMO, it was a strange feeling to wake up and how much time had passed. Only then did I learn about my event, told entirely through my family and friends. After two-and-a-half months in the hospital, and countless procedures, I was released to inpatient rehabilitation in January 2015.

I will never forget the day I arrived at inpatient rehab. It was the first time I really looked at myself in the mirror. I was devastated. I did not recognize myself. How could I go from a strong, athletic, and healthy young woman to a frail, skinny, sick girl in a flash? I had scars in places I never had before. The one running down the length of my neck where the ECMO cannula kept me alive: I was horrified by it. I had stitches and a feeding tube. My face and feet now drooped due to the trauma. I was blind in my right eye. I just could not believe it. But something inside told me to be strong and keep going to see what tomorrow held.

The next morning, I woke determined to take on the day by washing and dressing myself. I remember my first shower. It felt so good that I didn’t want to get out. Physical therapy proved to be challenging yet highly rewarding. I was continuing to struggle, but I was also continuing to improve. A short time later, I was released to home treatment.

It was during those first weeks home that I began feeling like me again. I started feeling and seeing positive improvements. As the months passed by, I became eager to begin the next chapter in my life. I started researching different careers, but nothing felt right. One day I remembered my parents talking about how the ECMO machine was monitored 24/7. I became curious and researched the machine and those responsible for it: nurses, perfusionists, and respiratory therapists. As I learned about respiratory therapy, I saw photos of endotracheal and tracheostomy tubes. They brought back memories of my own treatment.

I found a Respiratory Care program at a local college and applied for admission. When I was interviewed by the program director, he asked me why respiratory? I smiled and said, “Well, it is a pretty long story.” And so, I told him about my journey on ECMO. Five years later, my life has changed forever. I am a Respiratory Therapist in hope of becoming ECMO specialist or even a perfusionist one day. My life goal is to save lives in the same way I once was saved. Sometimes life has a way of placing you right where you belong – in my case, come full circle.