ECMO is an amazing technology that's often used in futile situations. I don't know who the ideal candidate is for it, but a young, fit, hypothermic cardiac arrest victim is pretty high up on the list
I don't know about ideal, but it saved my 6 day old son so yeah, "amazing" is totally warranted. Years later I sometimes take a look at some of the pictures we took (cameras would be forbidden in ICU soon after) and stare in awe.
ECMO saved my daughter when she was born. She wasn't breathing due to Severe Meconium Aspiration Syndrome. After they worked on her for 4 hours they gave up and medivaced her to a nearby hospital that happened to have 2 experts in ECMO in their pediatric NICU. She was on ECMO for ~10 days (fuzzy memory). The ordeal was heartbreaking, but the result was amazing. That was almost 7 years ago and she's a healthy and happy little girl now. ECMO is amazing.
As a long time game developer, I have the desire to tell it in my medium. The story is still ongoing 5 years later, but unfortunately so is the struggle, so it is very rare to find the combination of spare time, energy, and confidence to go past drafts and ideas.