Jaxon Taylor, a lucky Australian toddler, is recovering post-surgery following a near-fatal car crash that caused his head to detach from his spine. The surgery to reattach Taylor’s head to his spine is being hailed as a medical miracle across the world.
Surgeons saved the life of the 16-month-old infant who suffered an internal decapitation by performing a “miracle surgery” in which the internally decapitated head was successfully reattached to the spine.
Jaxon was traveling in a car with his mom and his 9-year-old sister when the car collided at a speed of 70 mph with another.
The force of the collision tore the toddler’s head from his neck internally.
Little Jaxon was airlifted from the scene of the accident to a hospital in Brisbane where a team of surgeons performed successfully a six-hour emergency operation to reattach the head to the spine.
The delicate surgery was performed by Dr. Geoff Askin, known popularly as the “godfather of spinal surgery” in Australia, because of previous pioneering work in the field.
Dr. Askin reportedly used a length of wire and a bit of the little boy’s rib to reattach the head to the vertebrae.
Little Taylor is recovering following the incredible operation, doctors said. He will wear a “halo” over his head for eight weeks to help the tissues and nerves connecting his head to his spine to heal. The “halo” will help Jaxon’s head to fuse back with the spine seamlessly by ensuring that he does not move his head while the wounds heal naturally.
Doctors said they expect Jaxon to resume normal and healthy life after the “halo” is removed.
According to the Australian news channel 7 News Melbourne , Askin said that Jaxon’s injury was the worst he had ever seen.
AOL reports that doctors had despaired of saving Jaxon’s life.
“A lot of children wouldn’t survive that injury in the first place,” Askin said, “and if they did and they were resuscitated then they may never move or breathe again.”
The toddler was evidently lucky that vital nerves were not damaged irreparably or severed by the force of the collision which dislodged his head from his spine. His healing will also be facilitated by the fact that he is an infant. Young children’s bodies have greater regenerative capacities than the bodies of older people.
Jackson’ grateful mother, Rylea, said, “It was a miracle.”
His dad, Andrew, said, “We’re very, very thankful.”
The latest story comes soon after the controversial Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group , announced plans to conduct the world’s first full human head transplant.
According to Canavero, a Russian man, Valey Spiridonov, 30, a computer scientist from Vladimir, has volunteered as the subject of the pioneering surgical operation.
Spiridonov suffers a condition called Werdnig-Hoffman disease. No cure exists for the ailment and sufferers rarely live longer than 20 years.
Canavero said he hopes to transplant Spiridonov’s head to the body of a brain-dead but healthy donor.
The 36-hour surgery will involve a medical team of about 150 doctors and nurses.
In a paper first published in February 2015, titled “The ‘Gemini’ spinal cord fusion protocol: Reloaded,” Canavero explained that the surgery, termed Cephalosomatic anastomosis, will involve use of an ultra-sharp scalpel to severe the head of the patient after it has been cooled to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
The severed head would then be attached to a new body using a special type of glue called polyethylene glycol.
Although Canavero appears confident about the success of the radical surgery, some experts have expressed skepticism, saying that the body would likely reject its new head.
[Images: Screengrab, 7 News Melbourne ]