Extracorporeal life support is the ability to supplement native pulmonary and/or cardiac function in the setting of native system failure. Development of modern extracorporeal life support devices began with the invention of the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuit by John Gibbon, successfully used in cardiac surgery for the first time in 1953 when extracorporeal support was used to repair an atrial septal defect in an 18-year-old patient.¹ Soon after, bubble oxygenators were invented by C. Walton Lillehei, MD and Richard DeWall. However, these early bubble oxygenators caused significant hemolysis thus limiting the use of a bubble oxygenator for prolonged gas exchange.² The development of silicone in 1957, a rubber material that allows for efficient gas exchange, led to the development of the “membrane oxygenator” and the coined phrase ‘extracorporeal membrane oxygenation’ (ECMO). This, along with the recognition that ECMO required continuous anticoagulation allowed for prolonged extracorporeal support to become a reality.