Clermont man battling COVID-19 receives ECMO treatment in Connecticut

LAKE MARY, Fla. - A Clermont, Florida man who was flown to Connecticut for a treatment which his family said saved his life is now out of the hospital.

Robby Walker was not vaccinated when he got COVID-19, and over the summer, doctors said he would not make it out of his hospital bed.

Just over three months ago, the father of six laid was on a ventilator and needed an ECMO machine. "ECMO" stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The machine is similar to the heart-lung by-pass machine used in open-heart surgery. It pumps and oxygenates a patient's blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest.

After a frantic search trying more than a hundred hospitals, his wife Susan found a team at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut.

Walker was life-flighted to the hospital and on an ECMO machine for the next 22 days. He then spent several weeks at a rehabilitation facility.

Now, he is on the road to recovery at home.

"My heart is so full," said Susan. "I just love him so much so he's coming home!" 

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