Dead But Still Breathing: An Ecmo Survivor Story

By Mr Tyrone C. Johnson Jr

He was intubated.

Placed on maximum ventilator support.

Connected to ECMO for thirty-nine days.

Hospice entered the room.

And still - he survived.

Dead But Still Breathing is a raw, unfiltered survival memoir that documents what it truly means to come within inches of death - and return.

In September 2021, COVID-19 pneumonia rapidly progressed into severe ARDS. Within days, breathing became mechanical. A ventilator took over. Air leaked beneath the skin. Blood required anticoagulation to survive ECMO. A tracheostomy was placed. Hospice support was consulted.

This is not a dramatized story of heroics.

It is a clinical, honest account of mechanical survival.

Inside this memoir, you'll experience:

- Life on maximum ventilator settings

- Thirty-nine days on ECMO

- ICU delirium and psychological distortion

- The week hospice entered the room

- Severe muscle loss and rehabilitation

- The quiet aftermath of surviving what statistics predicted otherwise

This book does not romanticize survival.

It documents it.

Dead But Still Breathing is about proximity to death, the fragility of oxygen, and the psychological reconstruction that follows critical illness.

There were nights when the outcome was uncertain.

Morning came anyway.

And he is still breathing.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GPVXFK3R
• ISBN13: 9798249337759
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"