Just a day after being born, Ralphie was rushed to Nicklaus Children's unable to breathe on his own. His doctors tried various methods to help him start breathing, but nothing succeeded. It was at Nicklaus Children's Hospital, one of few hospitals in the region at the time with an ECMO program for pediatric patients, that Ralphie was able to receive the critical care he needed. The machine functioned as his heart and lungs for 60 hours as he grew stronger. Thanks to the advanced technology offered by our PICU team, today Ralphie is a healthy, happy five-year-old boy.