Patients experience ventilator support for a variety of reasons of which respiratory distress is major. Irrespective of the reason for ventilator support commonly known as life support; it is a scary experience usually causing anxiety for the patient and family. An in-depth understanding of what the patient is experiencing will enable the nurse to alleviate some of the patient’s and family’s anxiety that usually accompany this patient management. Several studies have addressed the lived experiences of patients on ventilator identifying some of the factors influencing the experiences. There is a need to synthesize the findings from these studies so that themes and/or relevant factors that will guide nursing intervention will be identified. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to perform a thematic synthesis of research related to the experiences of patients on ventilators/life support.