MTS’s Ruth Strickland (didn’t) conquer her fear of heights when she abseiled down Guy’s and St Thomas’ Tower on the 11th May 2018 to raise money for their fund raising for a new ECMO machine.

MTS sponsored the “Katie’s Angels” jump in honour of her friend Katie Tinkler who survived sepsis thanks to the ECMO team at Guys Hospital. The collective group raised over £20,500 towards the £65k to buy a new ECMO.

‘Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of five specialised commissioned ECMO services within the UK. ECMO stands for Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation. It’s a bit like putting a patient on an artificial lung or heart machine. They cover a region of about 17 million people (adults, not children). There are currently seven consultants on call 24/7 and 365 days a year.

Any of the 42 hospitals in the region can call them and ask for advice about patient with lung and heart failure. If we think it is appropriate, we will go with a team in an ambulance and put the patient on the ECMO system in their hospital’s operating theatre. We will stabilise and patient and bring them back to St Thomas’.