Doctor Reattaches 11-Year-Old's 'Internally Decapitated' Head
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Dr. Daniel Fulkerson, a Warsaw Community High School and University of Notre Dame graduate, this summer helped reattach 11-year-old John Rogers’ head to his spinal cord. Rogers suffered an “internal decapitation” in a car crash in June. He can now stand and walk about 30 feet with the help of a walker. According to an Indianapolis Star article published Wednesday, paramedics saved Rogers’ life at the scene of the crash and rushed him to Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. There, four of the nation’s 135 pediatric neurosurgeons could try to correct the internal decapitation he had suffered. The crash occurred when Rogers’ grandmother, Donna Niblock, was driving him and his mother to a bank in Fountain Square. Niblock planned to drop him off at school. A theft suspect fleeing police rammed into their pickup at Prospect Street and State Avenue, according to indystar.com The crash killed Niblock and sent Rogers’ mother to the hospital in serious condition. When the paramedics delivered Rogers to the hospital, doctors feared he had suffered a serious brain injury, plus he had critical injuries. The doctors ordered an MRI right away. The Indianapolis Star article states that the crash had strained all of the mechanisms that hold Rogers’ head in place on top of his spine. The impact had lifted his head off his spine on both sides, Fulkerson told the newspaper. Fulkerson is a pediatric neurosurgeon with Riley and Goodman Campbell. According to Fulkerson, it’s a rare injury that’s more likely to occur in youngsters whose large heads perched on small necks make them the human equivalent of bobblehead dolls. Rogers was sent immediately to intensive care where they reduced the swelling in his brain. A tube was placed in his head to relieve the swelling. As soon as he was medically stable, Rogers underwent spinal surgery. Fulkerson inserted a series of rods and screws to stabilize Rogers’ spine until his body can heal on its own. Rogers remained on a ventilator for weeks to help him breathe and he was kept heavily medicated. Eventually, Rogers’ condition improved little by little, and he was moved into the rehab unit. He surpassed milestone after milestone, and at the beginning of October he went home. Rogers’ mother has returned to work, and he still has the tracheotomy, but the now fourth-grader attends class for three hours a day. He will likely never return 100 percent to normal, the Indianapolis Star article reports, but his father has high hopes for him. The full article can be found online at www.indystar.com
