On the 22/07/2017 a 13 year old boy was admitted to PICU at the LGI following an out of hospital arrest. The cause was unknown and overnight it was decided to put him on fem fem VA ECMO to support his circulation so a diagnosis could be made.

Ronnie and his family had been on holiday at Flamingo land near Scarborough when this happened, their home town being Glasgow.

Ronnie spent a total of 11 days on ECMO in which time it was concluded he had cardiomyopathy plus Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Once off ECMO it was discovered that Ronnie had a T4/5 spinal cord ischaemic injury, probably associated with the 90 minute resuscitation on transfer in the air ambulance.

Throughout Ronnie’s stay in Leeds I developed a friendship with Michelle, his mum plus spent a number of nightshifts with Ronnie on PICU.

We kept in touch once Ronnie was discharged and Michelle has always kept me updated on his amazing recovery and determination to live life to the full. His resilience and strength of character is inspiring and, as the conference this year is in their hometown I thought it would be a great opportunity to share his story with you.