Miracle Surgery: Doctors Reattach Toddler's Decapitated Head After Car Accident

A 16-month-old toddler was given a second chance to live after doctors performed what is now hailed as a miracle surgery. In a six-hour surgical operation, doctors reattached the boy's head that was internally decapitated from his neck.

Jackson Taylor nearly died after a car accident more than two weeks ago. He was travelling with his mother and nine-year old sister in their car when their vehicle collided head-on with another car.

Jackson's older sister was hurt, but he sustained a far more serious and potentially fatal injury. The force of the impact caused his head to be internally decapitated.

The toddler could have died. His mother related that she knew her child's neck was broken the moment she pulled him out.

Medics airlifted the toddler to a hospital in Brisbane, Queensland, where X-rays revealed the child's head was brutally pulled from his neck internally. His spinal cord was damaged, but it fortunately survived. It was the worst injury of its kinds that his doctors have seen.

"A lot of children wouldn't survive that injury in the first place," said Geoff Askin, who is known as the godfather of spinal surgery in Australia. "And if they did and they were resuscitated, they may never move or breathe again."

In a six-hour long operation, Askin and his team attached a halo brace to the child's skull and completely immobilized his neck, head and shoulders.

The medical team also had to make sure that the toddler was completely still because the rest of the operation involved reattaching the vertebra with a tiny sliver of wire and then using a piece of the boy's rib to graft the two vertebrae together.

Jackson had to continue wearing the brace to keep his body stable while it heals from the strain caused by the decapitation. The halo brace has a metal ring that was attached to a tiny body vest worn by the toddler. Jackson had to wear this for eight weeks, after which he can return to the hospital and have it removed.

Jackson now appears well and is expected to go home in a few days. His parents, Andrew and Rylea Taylor, described the surgery as a miracle. They said that they were thankful for the doctors who helped save their children.