The Milan Children’s Hospital ICU unit is a national center of excellence for treating acute respiratory deficiency in children of all ages. Over the years, we’ve developed conventional and non-conventional ventilation techniques, thanks to ever-evolving ventilators.

However, some children in particularly critical condition need an even more sophisticated machine to survive: the ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation).

This machine uses a loop outside of the patient’s body to oxygenate and eliminate carbon dioxide from unhealthy lungs. These lungs can therefore rest and heal – a great victory!

The entire region of Lombardy does not have a single ECMO respiratory team capable of visi-ting patients’ beds to install this life-saving device. The patients are often too ill to be transferred: their life is hanging by a thread.

With your help, we want to create this service. We want to be able to visit these children, wherever they are, install the life-saving ECMO device, and transfer them to the pediatric ICU for treatment.

The ECMO team has increased survivability for terminally ill children by up to 60%.