BRISBANE, Australia, Oct. 7 (UPI) — Doctors in Australia have successfully reattached the bones in a 16-month-old boy’s neck after he sustained a so-called internal decapitation in a car crash.
Jaxon Taylor was riding in a vehicle driven by his mother, Rylea, in September when it was struck by another vehicle at 70 mph.
The impact separated his head from his spine, breaking his first and second vertebrae, which support the skull and collarbone. Doctors call the injury an internal decapitation.
Jaxon was airlifted to a Brisbane, Australia, hospital, where he had a six-hour surgery to reconnect his head and spine.
His sister, 9, also sustained broken vertebrae.
“A lot of children wouldn’t survive that injury in the first place and if they did and they were resuscitated, they may never move or breathe again,” said Dr. Geoff Askin, who led the surgery.
Jaxon was medically sedated for three days and will wear a head brace for eight weeks, until tissue and nerves connecting his head and spine heal. Since the operation he has made a quick recovery, and is now able to kick a ball and hug his parents.
