Little boy with rare malformation haunts doctors to still be alive

If you saw the photo of the little child up on the internet and thought it was a picture "photoshopped", know that the picture is real and shows a little boy named Jaxon Buell. The boy has only one year and was born with a combination of conditions known as microhidranencefalia, which means that it does not have a good portion of his skull and instead of having hemispheres filled by the brain, in space there is cerebrospinal fluid.

astonishing case

According to Sheila Eldred, the portal Discovery News, Jaxon condition is incredibly rare and, according to experts, medical books often contain not more than a couple of lines about it. In addition, the expectation is that children born with the same problem does not survive more than a few days. It is therefore completely unexpected that Jaxon has come to do a year old - and also to be able to talk!



Scientists believe that the function of speech is controlled by the cortex, but, like Jaxon skull is filled by fluid instead of the brain, the boy probably employs the brain stem - responsible for controlling basic functions such as breathing and blood circulation - to communicate and perform other actions. And that's amazing because it indicates that the structure of the nervous system can perform more functions than previously thought.

According to Sheila, the brain is extremely versatile, and can happen in case of brain damage, other organ structures performing the functions of the party was affected. For babies in this characteristic is more observed than in older children or adults. Thus, cases such as Jaxon serve to alert physicians regarding the categorization of patients and the development of diagnostics.

miracle

As explained by the father of Jaxon Facebook, the intention of the family was not to shock or impress the world with the boy's picture. In fact, the goal was to demonstrate that we still know very little about the workings of the human brain, and help the medical community to learn more about the microhidranencefalia.

ust so you have an idea of the case Jaxon, according to the BBC, when doctors detected the problem, they suggested that pregnancy was interrupted, since the baby's survival chances were very, very remote. However, parents have chosen to go ahead and take the risks related to its decision. That it's been 13 months and despite the care that the condition requires, Jaxon is still alive - and surprising.

Incidentally, the boy's story demonstrates that, contrary to the belief that in the absence of the cerebral cortex there is no consciousness, it may be necessary to review the criteria that define what "consciousness" as well as determine which neural structures necessary to keep it active.