Thread: News: Colorado Doctor Finds Foot In Newborn's Brain

For the squeamish, don't open the link to the photo.

Follow the story to get to the link for the photo on your own, I'm in a training class paying attention right now


http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...54/detail.html

Colorado Doctor Finds Foot In Newborn's Brain
Infant Recovering After Surgery

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A Colorado Springs family is part of one of the strangest cases in medical history.

Dr. Paul Grabb, a pediatric brain surgeon, said he discovered a small foot growing inside the brain of 3-day-old Sam Esquibel.

The appendage threatened the newborn's life.

When Grabb performed the life-saving surgery at Memorial Hospital for Children in Colorado Springs, he was in for another surprise: he also found what appeared to be parts of an intestine in the folds of the infant's tiny brain, in addition to another developing foot, hand and thigh.

Click here for a photo of the foot. Warning: graphic content.

"I've never seen anything like it before," Grabb told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "It looked like the breach delivery of a baby coming out of the brain."

Sam Esquibel was delivered on Oct. 1, within hours of an ultrasound that showed what appeared to be a tumor developing in the brain of the fetus.

Three days later, Grabb performed the surgery to remove it.

Grabb was unavailable Wednesday for further interviews. He is the only pediatric brain surgeon in southern Colorado.

Erin Emery, a spokeswoman for Memorial Hospital, confirmed details of the amazing surgery that took place at the hospital on Oct. 3.

The reason for the strange growth is not known. It may be a teratoma -- a congenital brain tumor composed of foreign tissue such as muscle, hair or teeth. Those types of tumors do not usually grow as complex as a foot.

It could also be a case of fetus in fetu, which is a developmental abnormality in which a fetal twin begins to form within the other.

Grabb told the paper he sees a teratoma once every few years but it doesn't compare to Sam's.

"You show those pictures to the most experienced pediatric neurosurgeons in the world, and they've never seen anything like it," Grabb told the Gazette.

Mom Says Baby A Miracle

Sam's mom, Tiffnie, told TheDenverChannel on Wednesday that her son is doing well but that she didn't want to appear on camera because she doesn't want to exploit her child and make him appear like a freak in the eyes of the world.

"This is our baby," Tiffnie explained, in tears.

She said when she first talked to the Gazette, she thought the story would only appear in the small-town paper. But it has circled the globe and she is getting calls from national and international media outlets.

"I am so overwhelmed right now ... We've been bombarded with calls," Tiffnie said.

DenverChannel.com Reporter Jane Slater held the infant with the baby blue eyes and round face and said "he is the cutest baby I've ever seen." Sam's at a healthy weight, with pudgy arms and legs, which explains why family members call him the "Michelin Man," Slater said.

He was alert and happy, with a barely visible inch-long scar which stretched from his hairline to the top of his cheek.

Sam is still recovering from the surgery and shows weakness on one side of his body and some trouble with higher-level eye functions. He is already undergoing rehabilitation.

Tiffnie had said that her pregnancy was easy and there were no signs of complications until the ultrasound on Oct. 1. She and her husband had given up on the idea of having any children after years of trying and then Sam was conceived. Tiffnie said she doesn't mind driving to the hospital every week or month for Sam's MRI and blood checks, considering that he is healthy and happy.

"It's a miracle," she said.

In the meantime, Grabb wonders about the possibilities for medical science.

"How does the body form complete extremities? Who is to say we can't grow a heart, leg or foot?" Grabb asked the Denver Post earlier. "This could show a window of what's possible."

Wow! That is......interesting.

Hope the little dude recovers okay.

Wow,

I would have that bad boy bronzed like baby shoes, and hung from the rear view mirror of the car

Seriously, I am glad to know the baby survived. I hope ihe recovers fully and it doesn't affect his ability to speak, walk, or count later in life.

Son-of-a-gun.....

Imagine the possibilities of the other Humans who have not been diagnosed.... Imagine.

Something like this could explain Autism and other mental/physical/ disfunctions.

Imagine if during the early hours of creation, the original brain that was developing with the body, got over ran by an adjacent brain that was also growing in the body.... but the new brain was fundamentally detache from it's host body. Literally, that brain would then be stuck inside another living body, for which it had little understanding and even less control.

Wow.... that's some scary stuff. What we though we knew, has just been reshuffled.

As I am a twin...this type of thing is rare but does occur. Either another fetus did not grow correctly or a Siamese brother/sister didn't fully develop.

It could also be a case of fetus in fetu, which is a developmental abnormality in which a fetal twin begins to form within the other.

weird shit to say the least.

It is my understanding that between twins in utereo, it is not unheard of for one to absorb the other after repeated arguments about who gets to sleep on the top bunk that night.

It seems to me this is the case, and the absorbed twin began growing (what was left of it) after being born.

Or am I just being lazy and repeating what I read during a good steven king book?

LOL

<insert "put my foot so far up your ass" joke here>

It's good that the foot came out now.

Imagine being on a first date and sneezing a foot onto the car windshield. Not good.

yea man, thats like 10 min away from me. i read the story on local news, its crazy