ECMO patients reunite with care teams who saved their lives at Research Medical Center

Three former patients who survived life-threatening heart and lung emergencies reunited Wednesday with the physicians and care teams at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri—some for the first time since leaving the hospital. All three required ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, an advanced form of life support used when the heart or lungs can’t function adequately and conventional measures like mechanical ventilation are no longer sufficient. Research Medical Center reported completing 31 ECMO cases in 2025 and 32 as of last week in 2026. Patient stories included five days on ECMO after severe vaping-related respiratory failure, eight days after major heart surgery, and 13 days after emergency surgery for an aortic tear.