Billy Clark was born on 25th July 2009. He suffered from meconium asphyxiation which meant he could not breathe for himself and there were fears of brain damage. He was immediately put on to a ventilator, but his lungs were so badly affected that he still could not get enough oxygen around his body and within 24 hours, he was suffering from multi organ failure. He was then transferred to the Glenfield hospital in Leicester where he was put on an ECMO machine. ECMO is a procedure where a person's blood is extracted from the body via a cannula (tube), oxygenated by a machine and then pumped back into the heart via another cannula. This saves effort on the lungs giving them time to repair. After 4 days on ECMO, Billy’s lungs were recovered enough to go back onto a ventilator and after a couple of weeks further recuperation, he was able to breath for himself. The charity Heart Link funds most of the ECMO infrastructure from the actual ECMO stations to support and hospital accommodation for parents.

Over a year on from Billy’s birth, he has been reviewed many times and has been found to have no lasting effects from the problems he suffered from at birth. He is healthy, active, willful and mischievous! There is no doubt that ECMO saved our little boy's life.

It’s impossible for us to put into words how grateful we feel for the second chance given to Billy by ECMO and would like to give something back.

 

For more info on ECMO: http://www.ebme.co.uk/arts/ecmo/

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