Four years ago, a tiny baby boy was born with such severe brain damage, he essentially had no brain at all. His doctors said that his tissue was so severely damaged, he would probably not survive.
Today, little Noah Wall is living proof that medical miracles really do exist. According to the DailyMail, Noah's doctors believed he would never even survive outside of the womb.
When his mother Shelly was just three months into her pregnancy, doctors realized that Noah had spina bifida, a condition where the spinal cord fails to develop properly. Around the same time, her medical team also realized Noah had hydrocephalus.
Like the little boy born with an extremely enlarged head, Noah was experiencing fluid build-up in his brain. In Noah's case, the fluid was badly damaging his brain tissue, and preventing new tissue from growing.
Doctors estimated that the hydrocephalus had already killed about 98% of Noah's brain tissue, leaving him with virtually no brain at all. They advised his parents to prepare for the worst. But little Noah had a surprise in store.
When Noah's mom, Shelly, was just three months along, her doctors started to get very nervous about her baby boy.
Because Shelly is an older mom, doctors were monitoring her baby's progress very closely. By the end of her first trimester, they could already tell he had a number of health problems.
The doctors were so discouraged by Noah's results that his parents were urged to pick out a casket ahead of time.
Little Noah had spina bifida, which is a condition where the spinal cord doesn't develop properly.
Shelly's doctors also diagnosed him with several rare chromosomal conditions and noted that he was already developing hydrocephalus.
Hydrocephalus, or "water on the brain," is a serious condition where too much fluid builds up in the skull. The pressure from the fluid can destroy or damage brain tissue.
By the time Noah was born in spring 2012, it was dramatically clear that he had serious hydrocephalus that caused his head to swell.
Doctors did brain scans on Noah right after his birth, and tests confirmed their worst fears. The hydrocephalus had badly damaged his brain.
Nearly all of his brain tissue was nonfunctional. You can see the effects of the hydrocephalus in the scan on the left, where Noah is pictured with just two percent brain function.
Then, something miraculous happened. Doctors assumed Noah would never see his first birthday, but the little boy began to defy expectations.
Despite being born with only a tiny amount of functioning brain, Noah kept developing.
In fact, his brain essentially "grew back," regrowing much of the tissue damaged by his hydrocephalus.
His development was still slower than most babies, but Noah was hitting milestones — laughing, speaking — that doctors never dreamed he would achieve. They still don't know why it happened.
According to the Huffington Post, "When the consultant told us [the parents], she was in tears — she had never heard of it before. They don’t know how or why, but Noah will be used as an example for junior doctors and for brain surgeons. We just cannot believe it — it’s a miracle, we are completely baffled."
Now, Noah is a bright and bubbly 4-year-old. He will turn 5 next month, another benchmark his parents and doctors thought he would never see.
Noah still has a variety of health challenges. He is paralyzed from the chest down because of his spina bifida, and his lower body is misaligned.
He has had a number of grueling surgeries to help realign his pelvis and legs. Little Noah most likely faces a lifetime of surgeries and procedures to help strengthen his legs.
His parents hope that with extensive therapy and treatment for his paralysis, he might one day be able to walk. These physical challenges seem small next to the incredible medical miracle Noah has already achieved.
At age four, his brain has grown and flourished so much that he is almost identical to other children his age in terms of development.
The picture above compares two of Noah's brain scans, one at birth and one around age 3.
Noah can count to ten, he can talk, and now he is even learning how to write. He's right there with all of the other four-year-olds when it comes to his brain development.
Best of all, little Noah is now off to school. The tiny boy is starring in a BBC documentary called 'The Boy With No Brain,' about his incredible recovery.
After that, his parents plan to focus entirely on the future. He'll be in an ordinary school, working alongside all of the other schoolchildren to keep growing and developing his extraordinary, miraculous brain.
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