The patient was in critical condition and was connected to the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine. The ECMO machine is similar to a heart-lung by-pass machine. By that time the child hardly breathed and would have died without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. This machine pumped and oxygenated the patient's blood for seven days. It was the first time such an intervention was done on a 3.5-year old child with a pneumonia that could kill the child.