Team Lackland saves 7-year-old

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kimberly Spencer
  • 59th Medical Wing
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Meaghan Ababa is resting comfortably at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles thanks to the many moving parts and total efforts of team Lackland and counterparts from March Air Reserve Base. Her doctors say it’s a miracle considering the trip the 7-year-old Hawaiian girl just completed. 

The journey began at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Hawaii late one Friday in February. Doctors placed Meaghan, whose heart was failing, on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine. The ECMO machine did the work for Meaghan’s heart and lungs. 

The problem, doctors at Kapiolani weren’t prepared to perform a heart transplant if her heart continued to fail. 

The solution, transfer Meaghan to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where doctors were ready to operate if necessary. However, moving an ECMO patient is no easy task. 

Many hospitals have ECMO machines, only Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas, is able to transport ECMO patients on a long distance flight. The medical center keeps the system to assist Air Force families stationed in remote locations without ECMO access. 

Exceptions allowing military medical teams to move civilians are granted when there are no other options. 

Meaghan’s situation was desperate. Her heart, was enlarged, beating erratically and could not sustain her. Her doctors believed it was a virus attack. They hoped the ECMO machine doing the work for Meaghan’s heart would give them time to get her to Children’s. 

The call came to the 59th Medical Wing late Thursday. 

ECMO team members sprang into action; calls were made, approval was coordinated, team members where notified and equipment was gathered. 

Now all they needed was an aircraft to carry the team and equipment to Hawaii.
They were in luck, the 433rd Airlift Wing, a Reserve unit on Lackland AFB, could have a C5 Galaxy available to transport the team to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, the next morning. 

In fact, the C5 was already on the schedule as a local trainer. With a little team effort and some quick work, the mission was redesignated to transport the ECMO team from Wilford Hall. 

“It was amazing to see all the individuals in the unit that stepped up to help launch the mission that morning ... from extra pilots helping with the mission planning, to extra engineers helping preflight the airplane, it was a true 433rd AW team effort,” said Maj. Jeff Armentrout a C-5 Instructor Pilot with the 68th Airlift Squadron. 

For the aircrew, it was the kind of mission that reinforces the reason to serve.
“There is nothing more meaningful than being able to execute real, relevant, life saving missions that truly make a positive impact in the world,” said Major Armentrout. 

The 12-member ECMO team met at WHMC Aeromedical Staging Facility Friday morning and was taken, along with 1,700 pounds of equipment, to the waiting C-5. 

While the eight-hour flight from Texas to Hawaii was faster than normal, it seemed slow to the ECMO team. 

As soon as the wheels touched down, the team off-loaded equipment onto an ambulance, truck and van. 

Doctors at Kapiolani Medical Center met the WHMC team. In a flurry of activity, the doctors, nurses and medical technicians got the mobile ECMO machine up and running. They triple-checked every function. 

Then began the process of switching Meaghan from the hospital’s machine to the mobile unit. Carefully, the two medical teams worked in unison. 

Once Meaghan was stable, the team packed up and the trip began.
A C-17 Globemaster III, from March AFB, was waiting to transport Meaghan, her mother, Fe Reyes, her father, Alex Ababa, and the medical team to Los Angeles. 

During the six-hour flight the ECMO team watched Meaghan’s vital signs closely. Her machine was also given consistent in-flight checks. 

The plane touched down at 6 a.m. and Meaghan was driven from Bob Hope Airport in L.A. to Children’s Hospital. 

Children’s medical team met the WHMC team and the final transfer was done. Meaghan’s journey was complete. 

“The transfer went very well,” said Maj. (Dr.) John Lin, pediatric intensivist at Wilford Hall. “Thanks to the level of expertise the team provided and some great teamwork.”