How life of Rochester mom, 33, was saved by Frisbie, Portsmouth hospital staffs' teamwork

PORTSMOUTH — Kasey Watson, 33, is crediting the staffs at Frisbie Memorial and Portsmouth Regional hospitals, and a specialized machine, with saving her life.

When Kasey, a Rochester resident, and her husband Nick arrived at Frisbie on Jan. 19, she was very sick. She had the flu-and lives with an intense form of adult-onset asthma. She was admitted to the intensive care unit.

"I next woke up in Portsmouth Regional Hospital," said Kasey, a Rochester resident. "I was on this special heart/lung machine. Without it, I would be dead."

The machine known as ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) pumps blood outside of the patient's body to a heart-lung machine that removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygen-filled blood back to tissues in the body, according to Dr. Chris Lawson, director of the cardiac catheter lab at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. "Blood flows from the right side of the heart to the membrane oxygenator in the heart-lung machine, and then is rewarmed and sent back to the body. This allows the blood to bypass the heart and lungs, allowing the organs to rest and heal."

There was a winter storm that day, and med flights were not an option. But Portsmouth Regional Hospital has an ECMO team and the equipment. A team went to Frisbie, stabilized Kasey and brought her to Portsmouth. They had a window of about three hours to save her life, doctors said.

Lawson said ECMO is used for other respiratory conditions, including during the COVID pandemic.

"In Kasey's case, she couldn't get enough oxygen, because she could not efficiently get rid of carbon dioxide," said Lawson. "It makes the blood more acidoxic and we needed to get her regulated. In asthma cases, the airways swell, get tight. Once we had her stable she was able to recover fairly quickly."

Lawson confirmed without the ECMO treatment Kasey likely would have died.

"The treatment is fairly simple and straightforward, but the consequences of no treatment can be dire," he said. "Once we and the Frisbie team determined the ECMO was needed, we got the team together and we were off."

How hospitals collaborated

Megan Gray, chief nursing officer at Frisbie, said one factor in their favor is doctors at Portsmouth and Frisbie, both owned by HCA Healthcare, are credentialed to work at both hospitals.

"That foresight by HCA played a big part here," said Gray, who oversaw ICU nurses at Portsmouth Regional before moving to Frisbie. "I arrived at work that Thursday and heard Meagen Laviolette, our respiratory therapist manager, on the phone with Frisbee administration, with a sense of urgency in her voice. She recognized the signs that Kasey was in real danger, that we were in danger of losing her. I pivoted and went back to her, and we got moving."

Gray said she went to see Kasey, and saw the fear in the eyes of her husband, her parents and in Kasey herself.

"She was really sick, and we needed to move fast," said Gray. "There was a storm and med flights were canceled. The team at Portsmouth jumped in their cars and came here. It was the longest hour, because we knew time was critical, that the clock was ticking. They arrived, poured in and things happened quickly."

Once at Frisbie, Kasey was cannulated by the ECMO team and the treatment started. When she was stable enough, she was moved to Portsmouth.

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Family feared a second death in similar circumstances

"Dr. Dawn (Barclay) told us she wasn't going to get better without this special treatment," said Nick Watson. "He said she had maybe 2.5 hours. Her oxygen kept dropping. I was in the room watching, helpless. A whole team swarmed in and took over. It was wild and she began to get better."

Dr. Dawn Barclay is the medical director for the ICU at Portsmouth Regional, specializing in surgery, acute surgery and critical care.

"Kasey suffered from status asthmaticus, respiratory failure that comes with the worst form of acute, severe asthma attacks," said Barclay. "It is a crisis, with her lungs unable to clear carbon dioxide, and so she was unable to get enough oxygen. It's a complete collapse of her respiratory system. It can lead to cardiopulmonary arrest."

Barclay said it became apparent at Frisbie that available treatment was failing Kasey, so they reached out to make sure she got the help she needed.

"Her mom, dad and husband were distraught," said Barclay. "She had recently lost her brother because of the same condition. We had a sense of determination. We were not going let her go without a fight. We were able to save her, to send her back to husband and child."

For Cathy Plotkin, the gift of her daughter Kasey's life brings relief and sad emotions, too, because about a month earlier, she lost her son, to basically the same illness.

John Sanders, 31 died Dec. 19, 2022. He, Cathy and Kasey share the same asthma condition. For Jon, help did not come in time.

"So when this happened with Kasey, it was terrifying," said Plotkin. "My first thought, and what I said to my husband Steve was, 'Here we go again.' I don't think I could have survived this again. So, to have this miracle, a better outcome, is everything to our family."

Plodkin said Kasey and John were both diagnosed with the flu. John did not get the care he needed and then it was too late, she said.

Kasey went in to the hospital on a Thursday and was intubated by Friday.

High praise for staff at both hospitals

"We flew to the hospital, couldn't get there fast enough," said Plotkin, who also lives in Rochester. "They were taking excellent care of her, and were telecommunicating with Portsmouth Hospital. Kasey's CO2 levels were terrible, and they told us with the ECMO treatment she had about a 30% chance of survival. Transferring her to Portsmouth was a no-brainer, and she began improving almost immediately after her arrival there."

Plodkin said she wants to be sure the staff of both hospitals are commended.

"They were the saviors of Kasey," she said. "They gave her the opportunity Jon didn't get, and it saved her life. The doctors, the nurses, they are all her angels and we will be forever grateful."

"It's still a scary situation," said Kasey. "I worry about it happening again. I worry for my daughter Maddison (age 6). She was so scared. It was a rough couple of weeks for all of us. But, as to my care, I have nothing but praise. Everyone was extremely good at what they do, and they saved my life."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Rochester mom: Frisbie and Portsmouth hospital staffs 'saved my life'