With only a small piece of gauze taped to her neck, April Chohon, dressed in bright flannel pajamas, smiled as she paced around a hospital lobby—a monumental feat considering she could hardly breathe less than two weeks ago.

"I'm lucky to be here," she said. "It's just like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

During the last weekend of October, the 26-year-old had a slight fever, pain, and shortness of breath. She went to a Des Moines hospital and mystified doctors with her strange illness.

After two days in the hospital, Chohon was airlifted to UI Hospitals and Clinics, where doctors put her on a type of artificial lung known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The device—with many multicolored cords, boxes with lights, buttons, and monitors—saved her life. She credits William Lynch, MD, UI Hospitals and Clinics cardiothoracic surgeon, with her miraculous recovery.

"She was completely fine," Lynch said about Chohon's condition. "And within 24 hours, she was on death's doorstep."

Lynch said he doesn't know for sure what caused Chohon's illness, but said his clinical suspicion leads him to think it was H1N1 influenza.

When Chohon was admitted to the Des Moines hospital, doctors treated her with Tamiflu, a common flu medicine. When UI Hospitals and Clinics received negative cultures for the novel virus strain, doctors assumed she had H1N1 and the drug had treated the disease.

Shortly after arriving at UI Hospitals and Clinics, Chohon‘s heart function changed because of low oxygen levels. After she was placed on ECMO her oxygen levels became normal.

She was allowed to wake up and her breathing tube was removed while still on ECMO support. Later, with the help of nurses, ECMO specialists, and physical therapists, Chohon was able to walk while still on ECMO.

According to Lynch, Chohon is the fist patient in the world to be able to talk, walk, and eat while in complete lung failure—and ECMO made this possible.

"Instead of being confined to the bed, and sedated to the point that she could not move or recognize family, she was walking around, waiting for her lungs to get better," Lynch said.

There have been three other H1N1 patents supported with EMCO at UI Hospitals and Clinics Lynch said.

Five years ago, if people experienced respiratory failure similar to Chohon's, Lynch said they would have been kept on the machine for 10 days to two weeks. If the patient did not improve, support was withdrawn because doctors didn't think the lungs could not recover.

"What was unique was that she wasn't sick for very long," Lynch said. "Since she hadn't had exposure to a week's worth of sedation, we let her wake up all the way. It's not typical, but should be the goal for all severe respiratory failure patients.

"The strategy for these patients should be to minimize the ICU-related trauma of sedation and mechanical ventilation. ECMO makes that possible.

"The challenge is changing doctors' perception of the disease and the necessary care."

After a mere eight days in UI Hospitals and Clinics' Surgical Intensive Care Unit and only 11 days in the hospital, Chohon left the hospital on last Monday. A cloudy sky with signs of rain greeted her.

"It was still nice even on a cloudy day," Chohon said. "It could have been pouring. I get to see my kids, I get to finish my college degree. I'm glad I get to spend more time with family and friends."

Chohon, a mother of two — Kalli, 4, and Brendan, 5,— is studying to become a nursing assistant and said the entire encounter didn't change her mind about her profession.

After she was released, Chohon returned to her home in Nebraska, under the watchful eyes of her parents.

"I'm thankful and lucky," Chohon said. "Dr. Lynch is by far my favorite doctor on the face of the planet."