"Headless" boy brought back to life, thanks to the doctors

Micah Andrews was violently jolted during the crash in a collision which caused his skull to separate from his spine. The slightest movement could have left him paralysed or killed him, meaning the rescue and surgery to save him had to be carried out with the utmost care.

Doctors wedged Micah’s head between two sandbags and during a tense operation reattached the bones and vital nerve stems. The operation was a success and just two months on the youngster was released from hospital.

Micah still has difficulty with his balance but after therapy is able to walk and talk again and is already well enough to be home schooled by his mother, Heather, 34 and father John, also 34.

'You know, miracles happen every day,’ said Dr Nicholas Theodore, a neurosurgeon at Barrow Neurological Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona, who treated Micah.

‘And when I first saw Micah I certainly never would have imagined at this point that he'd be looking as good as he does, and I think he continues to surprise us.’

Mrs Andrews had been driving with Micah and her four-year-old daughter last August when another car crashed into their front passenger side. She called out to her two children who were in the back seats but Micah did not respond. She clambered into the back and ‘put my hands on either side of his face, because if he was to wake up I didn't want him to jolt,’ she said.

‘And I leaned as close to him as I could and listened to his breath.’

Rescue teams arrived and pulled the youngster to St Joseph's Hospital and Medical Centre, which houses the Barrow Neurological Institute. Micah was diagnosed with atlanto-occipital dislocation, a rare condition in which the skull comes away from the spine.

Doctors said that, had he not been strapped into his car seat at the time of the accident, he would not have survived. The condition is treated by surgically implanting a titanium loop to reattach the base of the skull to the spine. A piece of the patient's rib holds the rod in place.

Dr Theodore said: ‘Essentially, this is a child whose head was not connected to the rest of the body.

‘His head was kept perfectly still with sandbags on either side of his head, and he was taped down very precisely, so that he wouldn't move.’

Mrs Andrews added: ‘I was really concerned with them being able to keep him stable.

‘It's surgery next to your brain stem and nerves. It's not a large space to be doing such an intricate surgery."

Both she and Mr Andrews felt reassured by Dr Theodore’s commitment to their son.

‘He turned to us, and he said, 'I'm gonna operate on him as if I were operating on my own child,'’ said Mr Andrews. ‘I'll never forget it.’

Now they are looking forward to Micah’s condition steadily improving and said that they cannot thank the doctors enough.


/The Daily Mail/