Baby born without most of his brain, skull celebrates 1st birthday

A Florida boy who was given days to live when he was born missing most of his brain and skull celebrated his first birthday in August as his father looked back on the family’s unbelievable success story, says New York Daily News.

Jaxon Emmett Buell, who has an extremely rare brain malformation, was born on August 17, 2014.

One year later, the little one is teething and learning to say “mama” and “daddy”.

His parents, Brandon and Brittany Buell, appreciate every moment with Jaxon.

In a Saturday Facebook post, Brandon wrote: “All we ever wanted was to give Jaxon the happiest, most comfortable, and most fulfilling life possible, because we know how precious his days are with us.”

He further said: “Every doctor we’ve talked to is fascinated that Jaxon is here today, and they can no longer predict a prognosis, although we know the reality behind this better than anyone else, what Jaxon is up against, and that his life is already miraculous at this point.”

Doctors first detected some kind of malformation during Brittany Buell’s pregnancy.

They gave the couple the option to terminate it, but they declined to after experts assured the Buells that their baby wasn’t in pain and there were no added risks to Brittany Buell’s health.

Brandon Buell wrote: “Jaxon was our baby, and we only had one shot to do everything we could for him. We would never choose to play God in that situation, when we had been given a child, and it was our job to give him a chance to live.”

At birth, doctors diagnosed Jaxon with anencephaly; a birth defect that means the newborn is missing parts of the brain and skull.

In the following months, he developed normal infant issues — like teething and fussiness — and scarier, more unusual symptoms, such as serious gastrointestinal issues and seizure-like episodes, the family told boston.com.

Now a healthy one-year-old after surviving the tide; Jaxon’s father says his son’s journey will be a source of inspiration to many families.

“No matter who you are or what you believe in, it’s clear that Jaxon’s tiny footprints will have a lasting impression on this world, and that he has already touched and inspired more lives in one year than most of us ever will in our lifetime.”

The family also hopes Jaxon’s story will advance medical research — and help more families in the future.

“We believe the medical world will also benefit from Jaxon’s story, from his rare neurological condition, and from his diagnosis, because we are certainly seeing firsthand how much there is still to learn about the human brain,” Brandon Buell wrote.