Medical Term of the Day: “Internal Decapitation”
BBC News - 07/12/2006 (Have you ever seen “Unbreakable“? This kid might be Bruce Willis in disguise.)
A boy whose head was effectively severed from his neck in a racing car crash “which should have killed him” has made a miraculous recovery.
Chris Stewart, 12, suffered an internal decapitation, separating his skull and neck, when he hit a barrier at a track near Alton, Hampshire on 24 September.
His father told BBC News doctors had given Chris a 10% chance of survival.
But only two months later he was moved to a rehabilitation unit and is now planning to spend Christmas at home.
…
Mr Stewart said he did not realised how serious his son’s injuries were until the paramedics put him in the ambulance and took him to Southampton General Hospital with a police escort.
“They said he had broken his neck. [The impact of the crash] had actually taken the skull off his neck,” he said.
Chris’ tongue was also detached at the root, which has made speaking and eating difficult for him.
Mr Stewart said: “The doctors had never seen this kind of injury because, they said, when it happens, people die instantly.
“Apparently, only six people are known to have ever survived this and my son is the only one to have recovered [this well].”
December 8th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
oh man, talk about wierd..