Leticia suffered from Bactrim-induced ARDS, a rare, life-threatening reaction with an approximately 40% mortality rate and only about 20 documented cases.

According to the ELSO Registry, fewer than 1% of ECMO patients remain on life support for more than 120 days. Leticia survived 251 days.

Dr. Michael Mulligan, who has performed over 1,500 lung transplants since 1996, said he had never seen a case like Leticia’s.

- When Leticia first became critically ill, she did not have health insurance because we were still going through the immigration process. She spent the first couple of months hospitalized and on life support without insurance, resulting in millions of dollars in hospital bills.

- Leticia is only 25 years old and just underwent a double-lung transplant after spending 251 days on ECMO/life support.

- During an ECMO machine failure, her heart stopped and she was in cardiac arrest for approximately 4 minutes before being resuscitated.

- Her ECMO equipment failed three separate times, requiring four different ECMO machines throughout her hospitalization.

- She survived cardiogenic shock, right-sided heart failure, serious infections, and numerous life-threatening complications.

- After months of critical illness, her lungs became so severely damaged that she ultimately required a double-lung transplant to survive.

- She came to America as an immigrant from Brazil and became a U.S. citizen while hospitalized and fighting for her life.

- Since she was about 10 years old, her dream was to come to America, earn U.S. dollars, save money, and travel the world.

- She became critically ill at only 25, before having the opportunity to build significant savings or Social Security work history in the United States.

- Bills from her first three hospitals are now beginning to go into collections while she is still recovering from her transplant.

- She now faces lifelong anti-rejection medications, medical monitoring, infection precautions, rehabilitation, and specialized transplant care.

- After everything Leticia has survived, we are raising money so her second chance at life doesn't begin buried beneath medical debt—and so she has the opportunity to recover, rebuild her life, and someday experience the world she has dreamed of seeing since she was a little girl.