Emma Shneider and Dr. Eran Shostak
Emma Shneider and Dr. Eran ShostakSchneider Hospital Spokesman

Emma Schneider, 1-year-and-10-months old, arrived at the Emergency Medicine Department at Schneider Children's Medical Center following a fever, and while she was receiving treatment in the emergency room, her lungs collapsed.

The baby was transferred in critical condition to an intensive care unit headed by Dr. Elchanan Nachum, and from there to the cardiology intensive care unit headed by Prof. Oved Dagan, where the baby was connected for 68 days to the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) system that replaces heart and lung activity.

Blood oxygenator (ECMO) in ICU ward
Blood oxygenator (ECMO) in ICU wardצילום: iStock

Prolonged connection to the system helped Emma's small lungs recover and she was released after 103 days of hospitalization, while the professional treatment she received managed to minimize complications of such protracted dependence on the system.

Little Emma's parents warmly thanked the medical staff: "Thank you very much for the fact that thanks to you, we returned home with a living child. The dedicated and efficient medical treatment our daughter received in the emergency room, to the intensive care unit, all the long way in the cardiology intensive care unit saved her life. Thank you Professor Ovedi Dagan, Dr. Ofer Shiller, and Dr. Eran Shostak for uncompromising medical care, for making complicated decisions, for daily communication, and for sharing all the dilemmas, for listening and patience. To Golan Shukrun who operates the ECMO with dedicated and professional care during unusual hours, to the director of nursing, Reem Abd Al-Hai, and to all the male and female nurses in the ward."

The parents added, "We felt the entire time the girl was safe, because they were doing everything they could do for her and she was lacking nothing. It's surprising, amazing, and not self-understood to receive such treatment and service in a public hospital."

Professor Dagan said, "There's no doubt that thanks to the alertness of the medical staff and its presence in a hospital that has an ECMO system and advanced treatment systems, and the integration of all the different disciplines, the baby's life was saved."