Kansas City Star: ECMO helps save a young girls' life
After Lyric Washington-Gaw feel terribly ill. Her mother, Letitia Washingtom-Roberson, asked her to be transferred to Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City. Lyric had become so ill, it was time to try Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (or ECMO). ECMO is used on only some of the sickest patients in severe respiratory failure. ECMO does the lungs job for the patient, even the heart and lungs job in some cases, so the lungs can rest and heal.
Letitia recalls difficult days at the hospital, where doctors, faith and a machine helped Lyric beat death. They both shared the amazing story with the Kansas City Star.
“If you can get a sick patient here early, we can help them,” said Michelle Haines, the director of Cardiovascular Critical Care and ECMO Program.
