OCALA, FL. (352 Today) — For Max Gagnon, July 22 was nearly his last day alive.
That evening, Gagnon was involved in a devastating single-vehicle crash in Marion County. According to HCA Florida Ocala Hospital’s Facebook page, Firefighters with Marion County Fire Rescue found his truck crushed between two trees. The impact had hurled him into the passenger seat, and his body was pinned inside the mangled vehicle.
It took 15 minutes for firefighters to extricate Gagnon from the wreckage. He was transported with life-threatening injuries to HCA Florida Ocala Hospital’s Level I trauma center, the only facility in the region equipped to provide the complex, life-saving care he urgently needed.
Among Gagnon’s injuries were fractures to his spine, neck, ribs, pelvis, and left arm, as well as extensive internal bleeding and liver damage. Immediately upon arrival, HCA Florida’s trauma team initiated emergency measures, including placing him on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a sophisticated heart-lung bypass system typically used in cases of cardiac or pulmonary failure.
Click here to visit HCA Florida Ocala Hospital’s Facebook page.
HCA Florida Ocala Hospital is the only hospital in the area able to provide ECMO in conjunction with critical trauma care—a combination that proved vital to Gagnon’s survival.
He remained on ECMO for 19 days and underwent intensive treatment in the hospital’s ICU. Nearly a month later, he is alive, recovering, and grateful.
On Thursday, Gagnon reunited with the first responders and hospital staff who helped save his life. It was his first time outside since the crash.
According to the HCA Facebook post, Gagnon thanked those who came to his rescue, “Thank you so much. I am so appreciative for what you all did. I would have been dead,” Gagnon told the group gathered for the emotional reunion. “I’ve got a lot of life to live, and you saved me.”
Both Marion County Fire Rescue and HCA Florida Ocala Hospital emphasized the importance of strong coordination between pre-hospital emergency response and hospital trauma care in saving lives.