When he was just 9 years old, Jordan Taylor survived internal decapitation after a horrific car accident.
- In September 2008, Jordan Taylor was involved in a car accident that caused an atlanto-occipital dislocation.
- Also called internal decapitation, this disorder is characterized by a “detachment” of the skull from the spine. It is fatal in 98% of cases.
- But the young boy was able to be saved and recovered without significant after-effects.
In September 2008, the car of Jordan Taylor, a 9-year-old Texan, was hit by a dump truck. This very serious accident caused the boy to suffer a dislocation atlanto-occipitalalso called internal decapitation. His skull and spine separated from each other.
While this injury is fatal in 98% of cases, the little Texan’s recovery allowed him to celebrate the end of year holidays with his family, three months after his accident. What was then described as a “Christmas miracle” in the American press of the time, is today taken up by the Sun.
Dislocation atlanto-occipital : an operation to reconnect his head to the spine
The impact of the two vehicles caused Jordan Taylor’s skull to separate from his spine and move forward. However, the spinal cord remained intact. “All the connective tissue that essentially keeps your head connected to your neck has been destroyed,” had explained to Early Show on CBS children’s pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Richard Roberts of Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.
“He was the first patient with this lesion that I saw survive. It’s not very often that this kind of person comes to us.”explained the doctor at the time duringan interview given to ABC.
The team very quickly understood the seriousness of the case: “As soon as we saw his X-rays, his MRI, we knew how serious his injury was, what condition he was in,” the expert told journalists. “We needed to make sure Jordan was stabilized, so we put him in a halo first. It’s a carbon fiber ring that is screwed to his skull and attached to a vest. And then we took him into surgery. We ended up putting a titanium plate on the back of his skull and attaching it with screws and rods to his neck to keep him connected.“
Internal decapitation: “He’s a little one again boy”
The operation having been a success, the medical team was “cautiously optimistic” as to the fact that Jordan Taylor is not paralyzed, but she did not rule out possible after-effects. But over the weeks and rehabilitation, the young boy’s condition improved. “He started in the wheelchair, then the walker, then he walked. At first he didn’t talk at all, and they thought he might have brain damage, and he surprised everyone by doing all that talking.”his mother recalled with emotion in the media.
Dr Roberts told CBS News that Jordan’s recovery was exceptional: “He did better than anyone thought he would. His injury was normally catastrophic, fatal, and he managed to survive.”
Just three months after the accident, a few days before Christmas, the young boy had was allowed to leave the hospital to return to his loved ones. “He’s a little boy again, he’s walking. I have to tell him to slow down. It’s the best Christmas miracle I can imagine.”his mother had estimated.