Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

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The Children’s Hospital Foundation has proudly funded several ECMO pumps and monitors, helping children with critical health concerns. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation – or ECMO – is a life-support machine that takes over the function of the heart and lungs while the body is fighting an illness or injury.

The funding of this equipment helps children, like Indiana and William.

At just 7 years old, Indiana has already been saved twice by ECMO.  Indiana was 17 days old when she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and required open heart surgery.   After suffering a lung bleed during this surgery, she had to spend 24 hours on ECMO.

In 2017, Indiana went into hospital for a routine MRI to find out what was wrong with her bladder. While being put under general anaesthetic she went into cardiac arrest and was required to be placed back on ECMO to help save her life.

Indi’s parents, Meg and Josh, shared their story for our 2018 Nine Telethon.

When William was born, he was having trouble breathing and spent three days on an ECMO, without access to this machine, William would have passed away overnight – Read William’s story

Other ways you can help

Everything we do for sick and injured kids is made possible by the generosity and support of our donors, partners and the community.