BEAUMONT, Texas — A state-of-the-art machine at a Beaumont hospital is credited with helping save a man's life before Christmas.
Aaron Berlinger, of Orange, was admitted to Baptist Hospital and diagnosed with double pneumonia.
His family and doctors feared he wouldn't make it, but that's where the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine came in.
"It works as an artificial lung, essentially," said Director of Baptist Hospital ICU, Dr. Juan Iribarren. "It allows them to recover from a lung injury or infection."
Berlinger checked into Baptist Hospital two weeks before Christmas.
"I knew I had pneumonia, because I've had it multiple times and they said 'yeah, you have double pneumonia,'" he said.
When Berlinger was admitted into the ICU, his condition worsened.
"His lungs were pretty much shutting down. He had the MRSA staph infection that had taken over both of his lungs, then they told me they were going to intubate him," Crystal Berlinger, Aaron Berlinger's wife, said.
Berlinger's odds of survival, were not in his favor.
"They told me he maybe had a 30% chance of getting better, more than likely he wouldn't though," xx said.
That's when Dr. Iribarren knew they had no other choice than to offer ECMO as a last-ditch effort to save Berlinger's life.
"It's the highest level of intensive care unit anywhere in the world," he said. "The odds of survival skyrockets with ECMO."
Berlinger's wife, Christy, didn't hesitate to sign the paperwork and pray for a miracle.
"After several days on that it was clearly working. He was getting better and better," she said.
Against all odds, Berlinger pulled through and is on his way toward a full recovery.
"Right now, I feel amazing. I don't cough, nothing. I breathe fine," he said.
It's a true Christmas miracle, thanks to advancements in medical technology.
"The fact that we're able to do this, it's very fulfilling for me. I'm super happy for him and his family and his kids and I wish him the best," Dr. Iribarren said.
Baptist Hospital is the only facility with ECMO machines in Southeast Texas.
The Berlinger family tells 12News, they're beyond grateful for the hospital staff who got him the treatment and allowed him to spend Christmas at home.