Meaghan Ababa is now resting comfortably at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles thanks to the medical personnel of the 59th Medical Wing. Her doctors say it is “a miracle” considering the arduous journey the 7-year-old Hawaiian girl just completed.

The journey began at the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu Feb. 3. Doctors there had placed Meaghan, whose heart was failing, on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, machine. The machine was doing all the work for Meaghan’s heart and lungs.

The problem: Doctors at Kapiolani were not prepared to perform the heart transplant that may be needed to save Meaghan’s life if her heart continues to fail.

The solution: Transfer Meaghan to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where doctors were standing by, prepared to perform a heart transplant if necessary. However, moving a patient who is connected to an ECMO is difficult.

Wilford Hall Medical Center here has the ability to transport patients hooked up to an ECMO machine for long-distance flights. The system is in place to assist Air Force families stationed in remote locations without access to ECMO. Exceptions to allow military medical teams to move civilian patients are sometimes granted when no other options are available.

Meaghan’s situation was just such a case. Her heart could not sustain her. It was enlarged, beating erratically and unable to function properly. Her doctors believed it was being attacked by a virus. They hoped the ECMO machine would give them time to get her to a Los Angeles hospital.

The 59th Medical Wing received the call late Feb. 2. An ECMO team was needed to move a gravely ill 7-year-old girl from Hawaii to Los Angeles. Calls were made, approval was coordinated, team members where notified and equipment was gathered. The 433rd Airlift Wing, a Reserve unit here, provided a C-5 Galaxy to transport the team to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, the next morning.

While the eight-hour flight from Texas to Hawaii was relatively quick, it seemed slow to the team waiting to help Meaghan.

As soon as the wheels touched down the 12-member team offloaded equipment onto a waiting ambulance, truck and van.

Doctors at the Kapiolani Medical Center welcomed the team. One surgeon called them “remarkable.”

The Wilford Hall doctors, nurses and medical technicians quickly got the mobile ECMO machine up and running. Then began the meticulous process of switching Meaghan from the hospital’s machine to the mobile unit. Carefully, the two medical teams worked in unison.

As soon as the switch was complete and Meaghan was stable, she was transported to a C-17 Globemaster III which was waiting on the Hickam flightline to fly Meaghan, her mother, Fe Reyes, her father, Alex Ababa and the medical team to Los Angeles.

The medical team repeatedly checked Meaghan’s vital signs, administered medications and meticulously inspected the ECMO machine throughout the six-hour flight to ensure all were working in harmony.

The sun was not yet up as the plane touched down at 6 a.m. local time at the Bob Hope Airport in Los Angeles. Medical personnel from the Children’s Hospital met the Wilford Hall team at the loading dock as they carefully offloaded Meaghan from the ambulance.

The transfer was repeated once again in reverse order, taking Meaghan from the mobile unit and placing her onto the hospital’s stationary machine. Meaghan’s journey was now complete.

Maj. (Dr.) John Lin, pediatric intensivist at Wilford Hall, supervised Meaghan’s care during the entire transfer.

“The transfer went very well,” said Dr. Lin. “Thanks to the level of expertise the team provided and some great teamwork.”

Weary but appreciative, Meaghan’s parents, Fe and Alex, repeatedly thanked the team members as they packed up their equipment.

Exhausted but hopeful, the team knew Meaghan had a chance to survive.

“You can’t put a price on giving someone an opportunity to live,” said Capt. Karen Larry, Wilford Hall’s ECMO coordinator.