Decapitated woman’s head reattached after freak gym class accident

Doctors have reattached an Illinois womans skull to her spine after a freak accident left her with a nearly fatal internal decapitation, according to a report. Megan King, now 35, was 16 when she fell while leaping for a ball during a soccer game in gym class, injuring her right ankle and spine and tearing the muscle off both her shoulder blades, the Daily Mail reported. After 22 surgeries, Kings condition got progressively worse, leading doctors to diagnose her with hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome (hEDS), a genetic connective tissue disorder that disrupts the bodys production of collagen, leading to joint instability, the outlet reported.  A year after diagnosis, Kings neck became dislocated, forcing her to wear a restrictive halo brace with screws placed directly into her skull to keep her from moving. During the removal of the brace, her skull detached from her spine, causing King to suffer a nearly deadly internal decapitation, known as an atlanto-occipital dislocation, the outlet said.  I flew my chair back to keep gravity from decapitating me. My neurosurgeon had to hold my skull in place with his hands. I couldnt stand. My right side was shaking uncontrollably, King told the outlet. King was then rushed to emergency surgery, where doctors fused her skull to her spine.  It was a horror show. I woke up unable to move my head at all, King said.  King managed to survive the harrowing decapitation, which carries a 90% fatality rate due to the likelihood that nerve signals will become damaged between the brain and body, leading to paralysis around vital organs like the lungs and heart. She has had a total of 37 surgeries since her accident, leaving her body fused from her skull to her pelvis and her head unable to move in any direction, according to the outlet.  Im literally a human statue. My spine doesnt move at all. But that doesnt mean Ive stopped living, she said. Internal decapitations are three times more common in children in traumatic accidents because their bones are not fully developed, according to a 2015 review study. But in Kings case, her fall in combination with hEDS was enough to lead to the injury, she told the outlet. Still, internal decapitations are extremely rare, accounting for less than 1% of all cervical injuries. King is returning to normal hobbies she had before her life-altering injury, including a recent bowling outing.  I bowled a strike on my very first try. My friends screamed and clapped and cheered like wild. They werent just celebrating the strike. They were celebrating everything Ive survived, she said. Im still learning what my new body can do. Its not easy, but Im adapting. And Im always surprised by what I can still accomplish. The post Decapitated woman’s head reattached after freak gym class accident appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.