In the Air, On Land: Japan to Hawaii to Iowa 

U.S. Marine Cpl. Michael Meyer, 23, developed a severe respiratory infection that nearly took his life in March 2012. Meyer was transported from U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan to Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii while connected to an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) system that does the work of the heart and lungs in order to allow a patient's lungs and heart to "rest" and heal. Meyer's case was the first time in the western Pacific that an ECMO transfer had been done with an adult patient, and the 10-hour flight from Okinawa to Hawaii was the longest adult ECMO transport in history.
One week after arriving at Tripler in Hawaii, Meyer was transported to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City--one of a small number of medical centers in the United States with the experience and expertise to provide long-term ECMO care for adults. To learn more, visit www.uihealthcare.org/ecmo.