Surgeons in Australia have successfully managed to reattach a toddler’s head to his shoulders after a car crash left him internally decapitated.
Jackson Taylor was in the car with his mother Rylea and sister Shayne when they collided head on with another vehicle last month.
Speaking to 7 News Melbourne Ms Taylor said she knew her 16 month old child was seriously injured the moment she puled him out of the wreckage.
“The second I pulled him out I knew that … his neck was broken.”
Jackson was immediately airlifted to a Brisbane hospital where he was treated by Dr Geoff Askin, who is often referred to as “Australia’s godfather of spinal surgery”.
Speaking about the surgery Dr Askin said, “a lot of children wouldn’t survive that injury in the first place and if they did and they were resuscitated they may never breathe again.”
He added that it was the worst injury of that kind he had ever seen.
The operation involved using a piece of Jackson’s rib to fuse vertebrae in his neck back together.
The toddler was in surgery for six hours.
He is now expected to make a full recovery.