Kept Alive by ECMO Until Heart Transplant: Sahara Romero's Story of Survival and Recovery, with ECMOlife by Eurosets

“Now, for the first time in years, I can live without constantly fearing something could go wrong.” That's how Sahara Romero told her story, presented at the EuroELSO Congress in Dublin (6-8 May), dedicated to lifesaving extracorporeal therapies. Hers is a remarkable journey back to life, where clinical expertise and advanced life-support technologies came together to radically change her fate.

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Sahara has lived with a serious heart condition since early adolescence. The first signs of heart failure appeared when she was eleven. “When I was doing simple activities, like gymnastics lessons, I got very tired and experienced pain in my chest. At first it wasn't clear what was happening.” That was the start of a routine of constant medical check-ups, daily limitations, and continual vigilance.

As the years went by, the situation worsened. “Sahara had to rely on ECMO support on four different occasions. The last time, in March 2023, her heart stopped working and she began to experience multi-organ failure. At that stage, the clinical goal was to maintain vital functions and stabilize the patient while awaiting a heart transplant,” explained Dr. Mario Andrés Mercado Díaz, critical care specialist at the Shaio Clinic in Bogotá.

At this critical stage, ECMOlife played a central role. The system for extracorporeal life support was developed by Eurosets, an Italian biomedical company. At the Shaio Clinic, a cardiovascular center of excellence, ECMOlife became a critical component of Sahara's care. “The technology enabled us to provide mechanical circulatory support, continuously monitor the patient's vital signs, and safely manage an extraordinarily complex clinical situation," said Estefanía Giraldo Bejarano, a nurse specializing in ECMO. "We had to ensure that Sahara reached transplant in the best possible condition.”

After a difficult year marked by waiting and hope, during which Sahara – supported by ECMO – celebrated her birthday in hospital, the call finally came: a donor heart had become available.

Today, Sahara is living a normal life, an outcome that for years had seemed totally out of reach. "Now I can think about tomorrow without being afraid.” Those words capture the true value of a complex clinical pathway: not just surviving, but getting back to living and doing the things people most want to do.

Her case highlights how advances in extracorporeal life-support technologies can offer precious time at the most critical moments, expanding treatment options. “Solutions such as ECMO systems make it possible to tackle situations in which, until only a few years ago, the options were extremely limited, improving the prospects for patients' recovery and quality of life,” stressed Antonio Petralia, CEO of Eurosets.

Sahara's story embodies the true meaning of medicalexpertise and innovation: showing how technology can become not an end in itself, but a silent ally in a patient's recovery.

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