to save her life, they put her on a lung bypass machine called ecmo. >> i remember saying, "ecmo?"... with a squeaky voice, like, "no, really? you're not really talking about ecmo." >> narrator: this was total life support. >> it's got huge tubes that are put into an artery and a vein and the patient's blood comes out of their body, runs through the machine, and the machine does what your lung does. >> narrator: the tubes presented a whole new set of dangers. >> those tubes can harbor bacteria. >> ready? >> narrator: and one of the dilemmas of modern medicine... >> good job! >> narrator: the interventions that can save you can also put you at serious risk. >> you did great! >> so any patient we put on ecmo has a much higher risk of having additional infections. that's just the nature of the beast. >> hoffman: is that what happened here? >> correct. >> hoffman: and she got a particularly nasty one. what was it called? >> stenotrophomonas. >> narrator: stenotrophomonas is an entirely different kind of bacteria from staph. >> does it hurt? >> narrator: found in hospitals, it can live ins