Inside most 'impossible' medical miracles in US from 'decapitated' boy who survived to teen who recovered from rabies

AMERICA has seen some of the most "impossible" medical miracles come true over the years - leaving many experts baffled.

Jordan Taylor was just nine years old when he was decapitated in a car crash back in 2008.

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His mom Stacey Perez from Hillsboro, Texas, was behind the wheel at the time, when a dump truck ran a stop sign and plowed into her car.

Her son's skull separated from his neck in the near fatal blow - but his spinal cord remained intact.

Doctors said the young lad suffered what is known as orthopedic decapitation, giving him only a 1% to 2% chance of survival.

But in an act of extreme medical precision, they managed to reattach his head and neck, allowing him to make a full recovery.

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Dr. Richard Roberts, the pediatric neurosurgeon who saved Jordan's life, told the Early Show on CBS at the time: "The energy basically made his head lift up off of his neck, and then move forward.

The energy basically made his head lift up off of his neck, and then move forward.

Dr. Richard RobertsPediatric neurosurgeon

"All of the connective tissue that essentially keeps your head connected to your neck was destroyed."

He said they needed to make sure Jordan was stabilized so they put him into a carbon fiber ring "halo" screwed to his skull and attached to a vest.

Then, they took him into surgery.

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He explained: "We wound up putting a titanium plate on the back of his skull and attaching that by screws and rods to his neck to keep him connected."

In the same interview, Jordan's mom said: "I do remember seeing him in the car and his head was just kind of just hanging down.

"First he talked, then walked, then no brain damage, it was just better news as time moved on."

RABIES SURVIVAL

Perez's relief was shared by the parents of Jeanna Giese, understood to be the first person to survive rabies without receiving a preventative vaccine.

Giese was 15 when she was bitten by a rabid bat she had picked up outside her church in her hometown Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Her parents cleaned the superficial wound and they didn't think further treatment seemed necessary.

But three weeks later, Giese began showing signs of fatigue, double vision, vomiting and tingling in her left arm, Scientific American reports.

They were all the signs of rabies - but it was too late by then for the anti-rabies vaccine cocktail.

According to Rodney Willoughby, an infectious disease specialist who treated Giese at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, the teen was put into an induced coma to give her immune system time to build up antibodies against the virus.

It was the first time medics had attempted the therapy and they had no idea whether it would work or not - but knew Giese would not survive without it.

When she arrived at the hospital, Giese couldn't talk, sit or stand and fell in and out of consciousness. She also needed to be intubated to help her breathe.

In addition to inducing the coma, doctors also gave her the antivirals ribavirin and amantadine.

Then, for about six months after she woke up from the coma, physicians gave her a compound called tetrahydrobiopterin, which may have improved her speech and ability to eat.

Remarkably, Giese recovered with most of her cognitive functions within a few months and saw her other skills return within a year.

MIRACLE TIMING

Another incredible chance survival was recorded by cardiologist Dale Adler, MD, in the book Miracles We Have Seen by Harley Rotbart, MD.

Adler said he was waiting for an elevator in the cardiology department he was working at in 1988 when a priest visiting patients rolled out from the elevator door, unconscious.

He said the priest, Father Karl, was pale, pulseless, sweaty, clammy and cold - but his timing couldn't have been more fortunate.

Adler said he started CPR immediately while the hospital broadcast an emergency response for his team.

The team worked like clockwork, quickly finding a blood clot on the front of the 70-year-old's heart which Dr Adler was able to deflate.

Eventually, a heart ryhthm returned, followed by a weak pulse.

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Dr Adler was met by a sea of nuns and priests in the waiting area when he went to announce the news.

They had been praying the entire time and Father Karl made a fully recovery.

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