Biomedical Valley workshop 2022, ‘Back to Life’: Eurosets narrates Saida’s return to life, from patient to employee of the company building the device that kept her alive.
On the occasion of TEDx Mirandola, the 60th anniversary of the biomedical district’s first enterprise and the 10th anniversary of the earthquake are celebrated with a focus on the rebirth and recovery of this resilient area.
Medolla (MO), June 2022 – What is life? A question that has been tried to be answered since the beginning of time. But perhaps the correct question is “What is life?”.
And this question was answered by Eurosets during the Biomedical Valley workshop at TEDx Mirandola. The company from the Medollese biomedical district brought an emotional speech on the theme of the 2022 edition, ‘Back to Life’, a return to life that is realised through the story of Saida’s experience.
“We wanted to talk about a real return to life that also gave us the opportunity to concretely demonstrate Eurosets’ mission, ‘Helping people get back to doing what they love most’,” comments Sara Menghini, Global Marketing, Event & Corporate Communication Specialist at Eurosets.
Saida’s story, emblematic not only of the importance of life but above all of the importance of the person, came under the spotlight last summer when the newspapers reported the case of a young patient awaiting a lung transplant.
Saida moved to Italy from Morocco with the desire to find the means to cure the serious congenital pathology that afflicted her and which leads to a progressive deterioration of lung function. Since the disease was irreversible, she was placed on the transplant list but, in July 2021, Saida was admitted to the emergency room of the Baggiovara Civil Hospital due to severe respiratory insufficiency, i.e. a complete collapse of her lung capacity.
As her clinical picture worsened, it became necessary to intervene promptly through the use of the ECMOlife device, manufactured by Eurosets, born from the desire to offer an additional chance of life in emergency situations. ECMO (ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenator) is in fact able to temporarily replace heart and lung functions and can also be used as a bridge to transplantation, a true life-saving therapy for those waiting for a compatible donor.
The cardiorespiratory functions were therefore stabilised with ECMOlife, making it possible to transport Saida safely by ambulance to a centre specialising in lung transplants. After about two weeks of waiting, during which Saida was constantly supported in her cardio-respiratory functions by the ECMO device, the news that the organ was available finally arrived on Friday night. The post-operative course was long and complex, but in the end Saida won her battle and after two months she returned home.
Thanks to collaboration with social workers, Eurosets, who was particularly affected by this story, managed to get in touch with the girl and organise a company visit where Saida was able to see the department where the device that had kept her alive is produced. During the visit, the company management offered her to join the Eurosets ‘family’.
“The job offer,” says Saida, “has been like healing a second time as it allows me to look to the future with the serenity I never had in the past.”
