Saving lives with cardiac intensive care ECMO machine
Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital
Target: £85,000
Achieved: November 2022
Shani was in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at GOSH on two occasions, both following surgery. It's a place close to our hearts as it is where Shani spent her final days.
The doctors and nurses in the GOSH intensive care units do incredible work caring for and healing children and babies during their most critical days.
The day after Shani's final heart operation, she deteriorated significantly and needed an ECMO machine in order to pump and oxygenate her blood outside her body, thereby allowing her heart and lungs to rest for a few days.
ECMO stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: the ECMO machine is similar to a heart-lung by-pass machine used in open-heart surgery. It's quite an incredible machine, providing vital assistance to children's hearts when they are at their most vulnerable.
We are delighted to have been able to raise £85,000 to provide Great Ormond Street Hospital with a new ECMO machine to help them save more lives.