His knee pain suddenly became worse and he began to experience chest pain. Mr Dante Lin’s oxygen levels were low and his heart was weak, and the 18-year-old was not responding to any treatment.
For 62 days, Mr Lin was hooked onto the Ecmo machine. It helped to supply oxygen to and remove carbon dioxide from his blood. At times, it took over the function of his heart. He developed septic shock at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, where he was first admitted to. When he became unresponsive to treatment, the Ecmo team at the National University Hospital was called in, and he was subsequently transferred there.
Associate Professor Graeme MacLaren, the director of the CTICU in NUHCS who oversaw the care of Mr Lin, said on Friday: “It was highly likely that Mr Lin would have died that same night had he not been stabilised with Ecmo. It is essentially a heroic form of life support, used only for the sickest patients for whom no other treatment has worked.
For 98 days, Mrs Lin visited her son daily. The mother of four children took time off her work as a retail training and customer service manager to be with him. Mrs Lin left the other three children, aged 17, 11 and five, in the care of her in-laws. Mr Lin is her oldest child. The bill came to a staggering $490,000, Mrs Lin revealed, but they did not have to fork out a single cent from their pocket. Various government subsidies, insurance and MediSave helped them pay the bill.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)