‘I'm so grateful to get to be her mom now because of the ECMO team at MUSC’

The day Amanda Fortelney’s baby was born could have been the day Fortelney died if she hadn’t been in a hospital ready to react immediately to her health crisis.

The day started well. “I went into MUSC to be induced with my most beautiful daughter. My husband and I were ready for the best day of our life.”

But things did not go as expected. “Little did I know I would throw two pulmonary embolisms while delivering. I had a crash C-section, waking up probably two weeks later when I came off ECMO.”

Fortelney spoke at a gathering of patients at the Medical University of South Carolina who at one time needed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, to survive. ECMO involves a machine that does the work of the heart and lungs when the body is unable to do that work on its own. It requires a team of specialists that includes intensive care unit doctors and nurses, surgeons, heart doctors, kidney doctors, respiratory therapists and pharmacists.

Fortelney told her story with her now-8-year-old daughter Harper by her side at MUSC’s first ECMO reunion. It was a chance to meet others who’d needed that form of life support and see the ECMO team again, under much better circumstances.

The health problem that plagued Fortelney, pulmonary embolisms, is “one of the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths in high-income countries,” according to a report in the peer-reviewed medical journal Chest. They’re blood clots that usually travel from the leg up to the lungs, where they block blood flow. They require immediate intervention for survival.

“The labor and delivery doctor and nurses knew exactly what to do. They called the ECMO team. By the grace of God, I was here. When I threw those PEs, I was able to get immediate treatment,” she said.

Obstetrician and gynecologist Angela Dempsey-Fanning, M.D., who helped take care of Fortelney, was happy to hear she was back on campus. “When I see Amanda's name on my schedule for routine gyn care these days, it always elicits a moment of deep gratitude. Her survival after experiencing a life-threatening embolism during labor is a testament to her own resilience and the incredible interdisciplinary team that responded immediately to deliver her baby and worked through the night and the subsequent weeks to support her cardiovascular function in the ICU while her body recovered,” Dempsey said.

“There were many doctors and nurses who deserve thanks for their contributions. It brings me immense joy that I get to see her smiling face in the office and see pictures of her precious family.”

Fortelney expressed her gratitude at the reunion, with Harper there to witness it all. “Thank you guys all so much. I'm so grateful to get to be her mom now because of the ECMO team at MUSC.”