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After a suspected amniotic fluid embolism led to maternal cardiac arrest, Mayo Clinic teams mobilized ECMO and coordinated multidisciplinary care within minutes.
On June 17, 2026, Kayla Gengler walked through the doors of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, with her husband, AJ, and their youngest daughter, Ida.
The date carried more than one meaning. It was Ida's first birthday. It was Kayla and AJ's ninth wedding anniversary. And it marked one year since a rare and life-changing obstetric emergency required multiple Mayo Clinic care teams to respond within minutes.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:28) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.
What happened when Kayla suddenly collapsed at 39 weeks pregnant?
A year earlier, Kayla, then 33, was 39 weeks pregnant with the couple’s third child. She was at Mayo Clinic receiving care late in her pregnancy when her condition suddenly changed. While being monitored, Kayla reported severe nausea and heart palpitations before losing consciousness.
Kayla’s care team, including obstetrician Vanessa Torbenson, M.D., immediately called for an emergency cesarean delivery.
"Moving rapidly was essential. If too much time passed, blood flow to the uterus could have been reduced, putting both mother and baby in danger," says Dr. Torbenson.
In situations this complex and fast-moving, having obstetrics, anesthesia, and critical care available within minutes can make a crucial difference. Those teams began mobilizing simultaneously as Kayla's condition deteriorated.
Four minutes later, Ida was born safely as another team continued working to stabilize Kayla.
Then, Kayla's heart stopped.
How did Mayo Clinic respond when Kayla went into cardiac arrest?
When Kayla went into cardiac arrest, Mayo Clinic’s ECMO team was activated immediately.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, is a form of temporary life support that can assist heart and lung function during critical illness. It requires specialized equipment and a team certified to manage patients whose condition can change rapidly.
At Mayo Clinic, maternal cardiac arrest triggers immediate consultation with the ECMO team, allowing specialists to assess the need for advanced life support while resuscitation continues. In Kayla's case, ECMO preparation began as other teams worked to restore and stabilize her circulation.
Troy Seelhammer, M.D., an anesthesiologist, critical care physician and medical director of Mayo Clinic's ECMO Program, was on call that morning.
"We had a very short window to try to save Kayla’s life," Dr. Seelhammer says.
Within minutes, specialists, ECMO equipment and transportation resources were mobilized across Mayo Clinic campuses.
"Cases like this are incredibly rare," Dr. Seelhammer says. "Survival depends on having experienced, multidisciplinary teams that can quickly come together while remaining coordinated throughout the patient's journey."
Why did Kayla's emergency require so many specialized teams?
For Kayla, several urgent needs were developing at once.
The obstetric team needed to deliver Ida while continuing efforts to stabilize Kayla. While in cardiac arrest, critical care and ECMO specialists were needed to provide advanced life support. Nurses, transport teams and other specialists helped coordinate care, equipment and movement across Mayo Clinic as her condition changed.
Mayo Clinic's team-based model brought together specialists from across disciplines who routinely work side by side, allowing Kayla's care plan to evolve rapidly as new challenges emerged.
Later, when imaging revealed that Kayla had experienced multiple strokes, neurologic care became part of her treatment.
What is an amniotic fluid embolism?
As Kayla stabilized and began recovering in the intensive care unit, specialists from several disciplines worked to understand what had caused her sudden collapse.
The exact sequence of events remains uncertain. Kayla's care team determined that an amniotic fluid embolism, or AFE, was the most likely explanation.
AFE is an exceptionally rare obstetric emergency that can occur when amniotic fluid or fetal material enters the mother's bloodstream and triggers a sudden, severe reaction. It can develop during pregnancy, labor or delivery and may rapidly lead to breathing and circulatory failure, abnormal blood clotting and cardiac arrest.
"There is no single test that can confirm AFE, and it can happen without warning or an obvious cause," Dr. Torbenson says.
AFE is estimated to occur in about 6 of every 100,000 pregnancies in the U.S.
Why was Kayla's case so medically complex?
Surviving the initial cardiac arrest was only the beginning of Kayla's medical course.
Further imaging revealed that Kayla had experienced multiple strokes. During the evaluation, her care team also discovered a previously undiagnosed opening in her heart, called a patent foramen ovale, or PFO.
Kayla’s physicians say this opening may have provided a pathway for amniotic fluid in her bloodstream to pass through the heart and reach the brain, potentially contributing to her strokes.
The combination of suspected AFE, cardiac arrest, ECMO support and multiple strokes made Kayla's case unusually complex. It also meant her care did not end when the immediate emergency passed.
Recovery would require time, specialized care and continued support.
What does recovery look like after an obstetric emergency?
After 31 days in the hospital, including nearly two weeks of inpatient rehabilitation, Kayla was able to return home.
Recovery was not simple. The strokes left Kayla with lasting effects on her vision, cognition, balance and movement. Vision loss in both eyes meant losing her ability to drive, while weakness and nerve pain in her legs made everyday activities more difficult.
The emotional recovery has been just as real.
"At first, I was just so happy to be home with my kids," Kayla says. "Now, I’m learning more about what happened, and there is a bigger emotional piece. I’ve come down from that initial high and am learning to live with a disability."
As she navigated the physical and emotional challenges of recovery, Kayla leaned on the support of those around her.
While many memories from the weeks after Ida's birth remain unclear or missing for Kayla, both Kayla and AJ vividly recall the love that surrounded their family from those who stepped in to provide help and encouragement.
"What I will always remember is the positivity of all the people who sent food and lent a helping hand. There's just so much kindness in the world," says Kayla.
One year later, a return to Mayo Clinic
One year after the emergency, Kayla, AJ and Ida chose to mark the anniversary by walking through the doors of Mayo Clinic again.
They came to reunite with some of the physicians and nurses who had cared for them, including Dr. Torbenson and Dr. Seelhammer.
For Kayla and AJ, the reunion offered a way to reclaim a difficult anniversary.
"It's so special to be here," Kayla says. "We get to celebrate Ida's first birthday and we get to celebrate all of life's amazing moments."
For the physicians and nurses, seeing the family together again was a reminder of what coordinated care had made possible.
"This is what really keeps us going," Dr. Seelhammer says — seeing patients return to their families and their lives after illness.
Kayla’s recovery continues, and she is still adapting to physical challenges that have changed parts of daily life. But she holds close the ordinary moments with AJ and their children — walks, bedtime routines and watching them grow.
Those moments are possible because, when a rare obstetric emergency unfolded without warning, specialists from across Mayo Clinic came together within minutes to deliver highly coordinated care. As Kayla's needs evolved from emergency delivery to cardiac resuscitation, ECMO support, neurologic care and rehabilitation, teams across disciplines remained connected at every stage.
The expertise required to manage each complication was different, but the goal was shared: helping Kayla return to her family.
No single specialty carried her through the experience. Her care moved seamlessly from one team to the next, with specialists working together to meet each new challenge as it emerged.
“We drew on years of planning, experience and team training to bring the right resources rapidly to Kayla’s bedside,” says Troy Seelhammer, M.D.. “That preparation allowed teams across Mayo Clinic to respond together when she needed them most."
