Jamie Daniel was born with a rather rare defect called encephalocele. It is also called a cranial hernia. Due to the hole in the child's skull, a fairly large part of the brain crawled out.
When doctors saw a baby with a large chunk of the brain sticking out right above his nose, they gave him only an hour to live, believing that the anomaly was too serious and incurable. Jamie was one of the twins, his sister Lucy was born completely healthy.
Liane Daniel, 40, was in shock when she found out at 31 weeks pregnant after a scan that one of her twins had a dangerous brain abnormality. She, too, was sure that the boy would not survive after birth. But Jamie miraculously survived, having undergone many operations, although his current state can hardly be called safe.
The boy has cerebral palsy and developmental delay, but his mother is happy that he is alive and calls him "as perfect as his sister."
“At first, the doctors just waited and did nothing, expecting him to die quickly,” says the mother of the twins. “They put him in a box in the next room so we could all say goodbye to him. But when the allotted hour passed, and he was still alive, they took action and gave him another chance. He underwent the first operation, placing a piece of the brain that had come out into the skull, and after that he underwent regular plastic surgeries to "build" his face. Taking into account his condition, the doctors were able to do everything to prevent him from becoming more severely disabled."
Despite Jamie's condition, his mother calls him a happy and cheerful child. According to her, he often smiles and laughs and enjoys everything in which he takes part.
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Recently, Jamie and Lucy celebrated their tenth anniversary together and this was a great achievement for them, since before that Jamie practically lived in hospitals and was rarely at home with his sister.
“We still don't know what his future will be. Survivors with encephalocele are rare and we don't know what else to expect, but in my opinion Jamie is doing very well. He has already challenged the doctors who only gave him one hour, he can continue to amaze everyone further."
Leanne brings up Lucy and Jamie on her own, only their grandmother helps her to take care of the children, who looks after them while Leanne is at work. Jamie attends a special school that helps disabled children adapt to the world around them.