Unbelievable Survivals: 70 Patients Defied All Odds Against Grim Medical Diagnoses
When I was in college, there was a kid that exited a freeway at near freeway speed. Problem was, it was a construction zone at night, no lights, and it wasn’t supposed to be an open exit. Drove right into a pile of rebar. One of the poles went through the car into his face and pinned him to the seat through his head.
A couple of years later, I was in grad school, in anatomy seminar, and the surgeon presented that kids case as a study. Not only did he live, the rebar had slid right past the base of the brain/spinal column. It was so close, they had to twist it out like a screw because the ribbing on the bar threatened nerve damage. They literally rebuilt this kids skull around his brain.
His recovery photo was a totally normal kid smiling. He had a small scar on his chin.
I say kid, but he was like 17, just to be clear.
Edit: everyone keeps bringing up Phineas Gage, but this guy didn’t have any brain damage at all.
Had a lady WALK IN to the hospital with her face pointed at her chest. Her C1 vertebra had somehow fallen off C2, with her spinal cord delicately draped across the odontoid process. No damage to anything. Repaired with slow traction and a halo for a little while. Still baffles my mind 5 years later.
EDIT: lots of questions!
-This little old lady said it happened slowly over time, but when she woke up from her nap that evening, something felt different. No traumatic injury reported.
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