UAMS’ First ECMO Patient Returns to Thank the Team that Saved Her
Sherri Holder hugs one of the nurses who cared for her as she battled COVID-19 last year.
| Sherri Holder says people often refer to her as a miracle. But she thinks the UAMS nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists on H4 who cared for her last year are the real miracles.
Holder was hospitalized for three months last year, including 48 days on a ventilator and 31 days on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, as she battled COVID-19. In fact, Holder was UAMS’ first COVID patient on ECMO.
Sherri Holder, who was UAMS’ first ECMO patient, returned to UAMS a year later to thank the nurses, physicians and other health care professionals who saved her life.
She returned to UAMS on April 22, a year from the day she was admitted, to say thanks to the caregivers who saved her life.
H4 employees greeted Holder with hugs, big smiles and even some tears.
“If we changed your life, you definitely changed ours too,” said Carmen Eaken, RN. “You’re forever a part of the H4 family now.”
For Holder, each day now is a gift to be cherished. This summer, she’s doing something she’s never done before – taking a cruise to the Bahamas.