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At a young age, Kaelea Butterfield had problems breathing. After she was hospitalized five different times because of breathing trouble, her doctor prescribed breathing treatments.

When she was in kindergarten, a teacher noticed Kaelea wasn't breathing well and sent her to the school nurse. When multiple treatments didn't help, the nurse called 911.

'There were probably 12 medicines at least running through all of the IVs,” remembered Kaelea's mom, Kristin. 'They were hitting her with a bunch of EpiPens (epinephrine injections to open airways in the lungs (on the way to the hospital) and nothing was working. She was starting to go into shock.”

Kaelea was taken to a Cedar Rapids hospital, but soon was airlifted to University of Iowa Children's Hospital for more specialized care.

'If it weren't for UI Children's Hospital, she wouldn't be alive right now,” Kristin said.

Her family learned Kaelea has severe, life-threatening asthma. Not only is she unable to breathe in enough oxygen during an episode, she's unable to breathe out carbon dioxide as well.

Two years later, in June 2012, Kaelea was rushed back to UI Children's Hospital under dire circumstances. Her symptoms had become so severe that by the time she arrived at the emergency department, no medications were helping.

'There were probably 25 doctors in the room,” Kristin said.

Kaelea required life support and was put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which drains blood from the veins, adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide, and then pumps the blood back through the body.

While Kaelea was in the hospital, pediatric pulmonologist Timothy Starner, trained her family how to properly administer her inhaler and breathing treatments. He also taught them signs that indicate a breathing struggle, including rosy cheeks and sucked-in skin at her rib cage.

Kaelea was on ECMO for more than a week and spent 13 days in the hospital before she was able to return home. Today, she's an outgoing 12-year-old who loves to paint her nails and play with her younger brother, Kohen, and little sister, Kintzee.

She'll have to take daily medications and pay attention to her symptoms and health for the rest of her life, but Kaelea and her family are thankful the UI Children's Hospital specialists to help.