MELBOURNE What likely should have been a tragic story has turned into a miracle tale. An Australian toddler is walking again after surgeons reattached his head to his spine following a horrific car crash.
Sixteen-month-old Jaxon Taylor suffered an internal decapitation last month when the car in which he was riding with his mother and 9-month-old sister crashed head-on into another vehicle, NBC News reports. The cars were going around 70 mph at the time of the crash.
Rylea Taylor, Jaxons mother, was driving. The airbags deployed, saving her from injury, and she was able to jump from the car to get to her children, according to 7 News Melbourne. But when she went to pull her son from the car, she knew something was horribly wrong.
I knew that his neck was broken, Rylea Taylor said.
In fact, the force of the collision had caused his head to separate from his neck and spine. Jaxon was flown to a hospital and immediately placed under the care of the man known as Australias Godfather of spinal surgery Dr. Geoff Askin.
Askin told 7 News this was the worst injury of its kind hed ever seen, but took him into a complicated surgery that took six hours to complete. The surgeon reattached Jaxons vertebrae using a tiny piece of wire, but only after placing a halo on the boys skull to keep him completely still. Askin used a piece of Jaxons rib to graft the vertebrae back together, 7 News reports.
A lot of children wouldnt survive that injury in the first place, said Askin. If they did, and they were resuscitated, they may never move or breathe again (on their own).
Jaxons parents say their sons survival and recovery is nothing short of a miracle.
Theyve taken two broken kids and put them all back together, said Jaxons father, Andrew Taylor. Im very, very thankful.
Jaxons halo will keep everything in place for the next eight weeks, allowing for a full recovery.
Sixteen-month-old Jaxon Taylor suffered an internal decapitation last month when the car in which he was riding with his mother and 9-month-old sister crashed head-on into another vehicle, NBC News reports. The cars were going around 70 mph at the time of the crash.
Rylea Taylor, Jaxons mother, was driving. The airbags deployed, saving her from injury, and she was able to jump from the car to get to her children, according to 7 News Melbourne. But when she went to pull her son from the car, she knew something was horribly wrong.
I knew that his neck was broken, Rylea Taylor said.
In fact, the force of the collision had caused his head to separate from his neck and spine. Jaxon was flown to a hospital and immediately placed under the care of the man known as Australias Godfather of spinal surgery Dr. Geoff Askin.
Askin told 7 News this was the worst injury of its kind hed ever seen, but took him into a complicated surgery that took six hours to complete. The surgeon reattached Jaxons vertebrae using a tiny piece of wire, but only after placing a halo on the boys skull to keep him completely still. Askin used a piece of Jaxons rib to graft the vertebrae back together, 7 News reports.
A lot of children wouldnt survive that injury in the first place, said Askin. If they did, and they were resuscitated, they may never move or breathe again (on their own).
Jaxons parents say their sons survival and recovery is nothing short of a miracle.
Theyve taken two broken kids and put them all back together, said Jaxons father, Andrew Taylor. Im very, very thankful.
Jaxons halo will keep everything in place for the next eight weeks, allowing for a full recovery.
