Miracle! 7 Month Old Baby Born with Brain Outside His Head Survives Surgery

It is a miracle! Doctors in the United States have saved the life of a 7-month-old baby born with his brain growing outside his head in a transformative surgery.

According to ABC, the baby Bentley Yoder was born with a rare condition Encephalocele, a rare birth defect that causes the brain to grow outside of the skull.

After his birth, his parents Sierra and Dustin Yoder arrived at the hospital with nothing but an outfit to bury him in.

His parents said they had been told for months their son would not live long after birth. In fact, they said doctors were shocked he made it to birth at all.

His mum said that Bentley was diagnosed in Utero with the condition, a neural tube defect that keeps the skull from fully closing and, as a result, leaves the brain protruding from the head.

“It was a very dark time,” she said. “There was no hope he would survive.”

She stated that she had scheduled an abortion at the advice of doctors and then changed her mind.

“They [the doctors] would tell me that when I felt him moving inside, it wasn’t real,” Yoder said.

“That it was just twitching. But that didn’t sit right with me. I pushed, he pushed back. I played music, he would flutter.”

Amazingly, Bentley lived through his birth and his brave parents have never given up hope to one day find a cure for their son. Now, their perseverance has paid off.

An estimated 375 babies a year are born in the US with Bentley’s same condition, or about 1 out of every 10,000 births.

And since surgery is the preferred treatment, Bentley’s parents then sought out a surgeon who could help their son at 5 months.

Neurosurgeon-in-chief Mark Proctor says his team of almost 40 (including surgeons, anesthesiologists, and ICU staffers) practiced on 3-D models for weeks before the operation took place on May 24.

The operation was finally performed by John Meara and Dr. Mark Proctor at the Boston Children’s Hospital in the US.

Despite describing Bentley’s case as “severe”, the doctors were able to complete the surgery with the help of a 3 D model of Bentley’s head.

It has been nearly a month since Bentley had his operation and the baby boy is now seven months old.

His mum and dad are thrilled with his progress and can’t believe how well their son is doing.

Sierra said: “If he smiled any bigger, it would probably cover his whole face.”

Adding that she would always be glad she went with her instincts and kept going with the pregnancy.

Advising other mums, she said:“As a mother, you have to trust your gut. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have my son right now.”

She also has nothing but praise for the doctors that had faith in her and Bentley, saying: “How do you say thank you to someone for saving your child’s life?”

Watch the video below…

Photo credit: Katherin C. Cohen/ Boston Children’s Hospital